Context
Prime Minister has a vision of a New India where children and pregnant women do not die of preventable causes and people are able to realize their full potential in making of a “Swashth Bharat, Sudridh Bharat (Healthy India, Strong India).
- There will be a convergence approach wherein all the resources converge for accelerated outcome supported by an aggressive awareness campaign.
- No child should ever die from Diarrhoea.
- The government will make immediate and sustained efforts to prevent this by 2022.
- There is an urgent need to re-strategize the approach and make it more aggressive to achieve the target of zero diarrhoea deaths by 2022.
- No child should suffer from vaccine preventable diseases in the country.
- While Mission Indradhanush and Intensified MI have strengthened the full immunisation coverage in the country, a further aggressive and spirited push is needed to ensure that full immunisation coverage is achieved, where no child is left without vaccine protection.
What is mission Indradhanush?
The ultimate goal of Mission Indradhanush is to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age and pregnant women.
The Government has identified 201 high focus districts across 28 states in the country that have the highest number of partially immunized and unimmunized children.
What is Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI)?
- To further intensify the immunization programme the Intensified Mission Indradhanush was launched.
- Through this programme, Government of India aims to reach each and every child up to two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme/UIP.
- The special drive will focus on improving immunisation coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunisation to more than 90%.
- The achievement of full immunisation under Mission Indradhanush to at least 90% coverage was to be achieved by 2020 earlier. With the launch of IMI, achievement of the target has now been advanced.
Which diseases are covered under UIP?
Through UIP, Government of India is providing vaccination free of cost against vaccine preventable diseases include diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, severe form of childhood tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia (Hemophilus influenza type B infections), Japanese encephalitis (JE) in JE endemic districts with introduction of newer vaccines such as rotavirus vaccine, IPV, adult JE vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and measles-rubella (MR) vaccine in UIP/national immunization programme.
