SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1592452

This article is part of the Research TopicUnderstanding the Nexus of Conflict, Disaster, and Infectious Disease in Vulnerable PopulationsView all 3 articles

Barriers and drivers to childhood vaccinations in Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN)/ Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh: A scoping review

Provisionally accepted
Zarah YusufZarah Yusuf1*Sarah RedaSarah Reda2Johanna HanefeldJohanna Hanefeld2Catherine JacksonCatherine Jackson3Balwinder Singh ChawlaBalwinder Singh Chawla4Andreas JansenAndreas Jansen2Saskia LangeSaskia Lange2Jorge MartinezJorge Martinez5Emily Dorothee MeyerEmily Dorothee Meyer2Julia NeufeindJulia Neufeind2Dr Aarti SinghDr Aarti Singh5Elisa WulkotteElisa Wulkotte2Shamsuz ZamanShamsuz Zaman6Basel KaroBasel Karo2*
  • 1London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, London, United Kingdom
  • 2Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • 3Valid Research Ltd, East Sussex, United Kingdom
  • 4World Health Organization Country Office, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 5World Health Organization Emergency Sub-Office, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
  • 6Cox's Bazar Medical College, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh

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About one million Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN)/ Rohingya refugees live in the refugee camps of Cox's Bazar, experiencing recurring vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks despite established vaccination programs. This scoping review focused on the evidence for individual and context barriers, drivers, and interventions for childhood vaccination uptake of FDMN/ Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar. Four databases and grey literature were systematically searched. Theoretical frameworks were used to organize findings. 4014 records were screened, and 21 articles included. The literature was heterogenous. Barriers and drivers for FDMN/ Rohingya refugees receiving vaccination focused on motivation relating to trust, beliefs and fears (19 barriers and drivers in 11 articles), accessibility and information availability (19 barriers and drivers in 11 articles), as well as knowledge and ability (eight barriers and drivers in nine articles), and socio-cultural and gender-related norms and social support (seven barriers and drivers in eight articles). For health service providers facilitating vaccinations, context factors, such as the availability of vaccines and staff, were most frequently identified (13 barriers and drivers in 12 articles). Interventions mostly related to vaccination campaigns and information/education. They often lacked detail and formal evaluations. Future research and interventions on childhood vaccination should consider barriers and drivers for health service providers, the diversity of the camp population, and explore the role of community/religious leaders and gender-related social norms. Additionally, the reporting and evaluation of interventions should be strengthened.

Keywords: Rohingya1, Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals / Rohingya refugees2, childhood3, Vaccination4, Cox's Bazar5, review6

Received: 12 Mar 2025; Accepted: 18 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Yusuf, Reda, Hanefeld, Jackson, Chawla, Jansen, Lange, Martinez, Meyer, Neufeind, Singh, Wulkotte, Zaman and Karo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Zarah Yusuf, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, WC1E 7HT, London, United Kingdom
Basel Karo, Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Berlin, 13353, Berlin, Germany

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material