MISSION INDRADHANUSH 2.0

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Why in News?

  • The Government will launch the second phase of nationwide immunisation drive, i.e. Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0, to mark the 25 years of Pulse polio programme.

About the Programme:

  • Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 aims to achieve at least 90% pan-India immunisation coverage by 2022.
  • Through ‘IMI 2.0’, the health ministry aims to reach each and every child below the age of two years and all pregnant women still uncovered/partially covered in 271 districts of the country.
  • IMI 2.0 will include four rounds of vaccination, with each round involving a seven-day immunisation drive to be conducted each month.
  • The IMI programme is supported by 12 ministries and departments and is being monitored by the cabinet secretary at the national level.

Government Interventions in Immunization:

1.‘Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI):

  • Immunization Programme in India was introduced in 1978 as ‘Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

2.Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)’:

  • In 1985, the above programme was modified as ‘Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)’.
  • UIP prevents mortality and morbidity in children and pregnant women against 12 vaccine-preventable diseases.
  • The stated objectives of the Programme include:
  • Rapidly increasing immunization coverage,
  • Improving the quality of services,
  • Establishing a reliable cold chain system to the health facility level.
  • Introducing a district-wise system for monitoring of performance,
  • Achieving self-sufficiency in vaccine production.
  • But in the past, it was seen that the increase in immunization coverage had slowed down. So in order to accelerate the coverage, Mission Indradhanush was envisaged and implemented since 2015 to rapidly increase the full immunization coverage to 90%.

3.Mission Indradhanush:

  • It targets children under 2 years of age and pregnant women for immunization.
  • The aim is to fully immunize more than 89 lakh children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated under UIP.
  • It provides vaccination against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) i.e. diphtheria, Whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia, Hemophilus influenza type B infections, Japanese encephalitis (JE), rotavirus vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and measles-rubella (MR).
  • The rate of increase in full immunization coverage increased to 6.7% per year through the first two phases of ‘Mission Indradhanush’.

4.Intensified Mission Indradhanush:

  • The Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) was launched by the Government of India in 2017 to reach each and every child under two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme.
  • Under IMI, greater focus has been given on urban areas which was considered to be one of the gaps in Mission Indradhanush.
  • The target under IMI was to increase the full immunization coverage to 90% by December 2018. However, only 16 districts in the country have achieved 90% coverage so far.
  • The official data states that India’s immunisation coverage is still 62%. (As per National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16)).

5.Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0:

  • This will target the districts which have immunisation coverage of 70% or below.
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