Measles vaccination improves the equity of health outcomes: evidence from Bangladesh

OBJECTIVES: This paper asks whether measles vaccination can reduce socioeconomic differentials in under five mortality rates (U5MR) in a setting characterized by extreme poverty and high levels of childhood mortality. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study based on quasi experimental design. SETTING: Data come from the phased introduction of a measles vaccine intervention in Matlab, Bangladesh in 1982. SUBJECTS: There were 16 270 Bangladeshi children aged 9-60 months. INTERVENTION: The intervention cohort received measles vaccine. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Socioeconomic differentials in U5MR between the lowest and highest socioeconomic status (SES) quintiles in a cohort of 8135 vaccinated children and a cohort of unvaccinated age matched controls. Mantel-Haenszel rate ratios for the lowest to highest SES quintile were computed. SES was measured by…