Why There is an Arising Need for Nationwide Immunization in India?

Vaccines have been the most important discovery for mankind among others. The practice of immunization to fight the diseases such as Polio, Yellow Fever, Hepatitis B, Measles etc. have vastly helped in restoring the health of the child as well as mother and extended them a post-birth primary health care. Deadly diseases that have no cure before have now seen an assured end with the introduction of vaccines and the routine checkup of immunization in India.

Relative to its commitment in achieving Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030, India is accelerating forward with the apt knowledge to attain the goals successfully and ensure a healthy living and environmental condition for everyone. The situation demands that India should speed up and provision a health care coverage through immunization that has a major effect on the health of new-born babies, growing children and lactating mothers.

The progress of immunization coverage in India is basically going at a slower pace and have just made a coverage of 62% in the last two decades. But in spite of the continuous improvement of immunization in India as suggested by National Family Health Survey, there has not been much achievement as compared to the number of institutional births that have risen from 39% to 79% in a decade.

But, surprisingly the slower pace of coverage could not be blamed upon lack of finance. The reasons behind this situation are far more grievous.

• Remote residence: This has been the most common reason among rural households that are located far away from town and situated deeply into rurals. Their inaccessibility has been the reason for lack of immunization among children.

• Poor health care facilities: The most number of complaints issued from the rural regions concerns their poor health facilities, lack of doctors or nurses and a decaying infrastructure which has somehow worsened the condition rather than helping out.

• Lack of awareness in mothers: The illiteracy prevalent among the mothers in rural areas have also been one of the reasons for the children to be deprived of their immunization dose. Many mothers felt that their children are too young to receive a vaccination.

• No faith in immunization: Most of the village people do not believe in these medical precautions and think their village rituals are enough to help the children during their illness.

But, the immunization coverage could be strengthened easily through some of impactful strategies and policies.

• Maternal education will play a vital role in implementing the immunization for her child. Her education will be a fruitful contribution to the healthy development of the nation.
• A door-to-door immunization service should be implemented for the rural residents who have no such awareness about these medical procedures.
• An ample number of doctors should be recruited at the government health care facilities who can attend all of them and provide the proper care needed.
• Awareness through mass media, mid-media, school education, social volunteering and interpersonal communication can help a lot in improving the situations.