Immunisation In India

It is now universally accepted by medical fraternity, health workers as well large sections of the general public that immunisation is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions that currently averts an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths every year globally.India has one of the largest immunisation programmes in the world, in terms of the number of beneficiaries, geographical coverage and quantities of vaccine used, with nearly 27 million newborn babies and 30 million pregnant women targeted for immunisation each year. Over 9 million immunisation sessions are held every year across the country through a massive 27,000 cold chain stores.Though significant improvement has taken place in the past few years, the country still accounts for the largest number of children who are not immunized: 7.4 million

To meet this challenge the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) has scaled up its immunisation programme by introducing new vaccines and launching some of the world’s largest mass immunisation campaigns.

Mission Indradhanush was launched on 25th December 2014 with the aim of expanding immunization coverage to all children across India by the year 2020 against seven vaccine preventable diseases namely Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Childhood Tuberculosis, Polio, Hepatitis B and Measles. New vaccines such as measles-rubella vaccine, rotavirus vaccine, and Japanese encephalitis were subsequently included in the government’s Universal Immunisation Programme and some of the world’s largest campaigns to protect children against these killer deceases launched.

However, despite this extensive coverage, India accounts for more than 20 percent of child mortality worldwide. Only 65 percent the children in India have received all vaccines during the first year of their life. The national average for full immunisation is 61 percent, and for DPT-3 coverage, 72 percent. In nearly two-thirds of districts in India (402 out of 6010 ) the DPT-3 coverage is below 80 percent.

This underlines a pressing need for sustained interventions, particularly in areas of low routine immunization (RI) rate. Addressing the challenges faced in ensuring universal coverage of immunisation is, therefore, of paramount importance.

Apart from other factors such as reaching the unreached by improving the public health delivery system in terms of infrastructure and trained and motivated manpower, paranoia about vaccines has been a long-standing problem in India, as was seen during the pulse polio campaign. That resistance to vaccines persists has been demonstrated in recent Measles-Rubella and Rotavirus vaccination campaigns in pockets of India.

Our first and immediate tasks, therefore, must be a sustained effort by all the stakeholders—the government, the medical fraternity and the civil society—to demolish myths about vaccinations that are borne out of ignorance or motivated sectarian interests.

The media has always played an instrumental role in supporting and enriching the quality discourse on Public health and hence increasing acceptance of critical health initiatives and Radio, in particular, has emerged as a powerful medium as it caters to an audience which may not be literate or have access to television to be informed.

The All India Radio (AIR) providing radio coverage to 99.14 percent of the population and nearly 159 million Radio listeners in the country tuning in for AIR and other stations, this medium is increasingly being recognised as a crucial point of contact with the remotest and hard to reach populations of the country.

The vast reach and infrastructure of radio may be leveraged for informed public discourse to create a supportive environment which will enhance the reach of RI in remote areas where radio is often the main source of mass media.

Bearing in mind the critical role of this medium in reaching out to people and in shaping their decision making process, UNICEF has been actively involved in organising capacity building workshops for health journalists, editors, writers and radio jockeys. It has also introduced ‘Radio4child’awards to engage the radio fraternity to promote awareness on Routine Immunisation amongst parents and caregivers.