One in four New Zealanders was born overseas and
new migrants are ahead of other Kiwis when it comes to
vaccinating their babies.
Migrant families
are more likely than other New Zealanders to vaccinate their
babies on time, according to new University of Auckland
research.
The study found children of recent migrants,
defined as moving to New Zealand within the previous five
years, were more likely than non-migrants to receive
vaccines at six weeks, three months and five
months.
“We found that the children born to two
born-overseas parents had the highest timely vaccination
rate, followed by those who had one parents born overseas
and then at the lowest rate were children who had two New
Zealand-born parents,” says lead researcher Dr Ladan
Hashemi, a senior research fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau,
the University of Auckland. See Vaccine.
The researchers looked
at immunisation records for more than 6,800 babies of a
representative sample of the same number of women who were
expected to give birth between April 2009 and March 2010 and
4,400 of their partners, all with consent.
They used
data from the Growing Up in New Zealand study as well as
immunisation data.
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Timeliness was defined as within 30
days of the scheduled date for vaccination.
This new
study found migrant families were poorer than non-migrants,
but they still had higher rates of timely childhood
vaccinations. Timeliness is important for preventing spread
of vaccine-preventable illnesses, such as
measles.
These advantages diminished for migrants who
had been living in the country longer.
“This is the
opposite to what you would expect. As you stay longer in the
country, life is going to be easier, your income is going to
be better, but they found the drop-off in timely
vaccination,” Dr Hashemi says.
This could be because
of anti-vaccination attitudes being a public health issue in
New Zealand, Dr Hashemi says.
“For the first five
years of living in New Zealand, migrants are not quite
integrated into mainstream culture.
“But, as time
goes on, they are more likely to acquire the English
language, and be exposed to media and social media that is
full of anti-vaccine information, as well as meeting people
who are anti-vaccines. So, over time, those vaccination
rates go down.”
Another factor is the ‘migration
paradox’, Hashemi says. This is where migrants are moving
to a new country because they are seeking better
opportunities for themselves and their children, including
having better health.
“Research from the US shows
that migrant mothers are very determined to provide the best
health for their children,” Hashemi says.
In New
Zealand, 25 percent of the population has been born
overseas, a percentage that has been increasing over
time.
Migrants are generally more educated than other
New Zealanders, including ten percent more likely to have a
university education.
This is likely to be due to the
points system, where migrants need to be highly educated and
also healthy, including having good health
behaviours.
Another recent study from the University
of Auckland and led by Hashemi found children of migrant
children were less likely to be obese than non-migrants and
less likely to have an obesogenic lifestyle. See Advances
in Public Health.
One recommendation from the new
study was a need for qualitative research to find out why
vaccination drops off the longer migrants live in New
Zealand.
In the same paper, the authors conclude
migrant families’ experiences could inform vaccine
promotion and policies to increase vaccination
uptake.
© Scoop Media
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