Bharat chauhan Jammu, India, The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Govt. of India, Directorate of Family Welfare MCH & Immunization with support from WHO and UNICEF today organized a Media Sensitization Workshop with State & National electronic & print media journalists on the Measles Rubella vaccination campaign at Jammu.
Dr. Pradeep Haldar, Deputy Commissioner Immunization chaired the meeting along with Dr. L D Bhagat, Assistant Director Family Welfare MCH & Immunization Jammu, Dr. Dinesh Kumar, HOD Social & Preventive Medicine, Govt. Medical College Jammu, Dr. Ravinder Pal Singh, WHO, Dr. Neha Jalali, Deputy Director, Doordarshan & Radio Kashmir, Dr. Sanjay Turki, CMO Jammu and Ajay Gupta, General Secretary, Private Schools Association, J&K, provided details of the Measles Rubella campaign which will be launched in the state targeting around 43 lac children across 22 districts.
Dr. Sanjay Sharma, DIO Samba opened the workshop by welcoming the Dignitaries and Representatives from Print and Electronic media.
Dr. Pradeep Haldar, Deputy Commissioner, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, “Immunization is one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to protect children’s lives and futures. Through full immunization coverage, we can make sure that the benefits of life-saving vaccines reach every child. The recently introduced measles-rubella vaccine, which will be provided for free in schools, during the campaign, in health facilities and at outreach session sites, is another such step to achieving our goals”.
Assistant Director, Family Welfare MCH & Immunization Jammu, Dr. L D Bhagat presented the State preparedness for the MR Campaign and said that the task is gigantic & we are sure that the campaign will be successfully launched and completed with the support from other online departments like Education, ICDS etc. He further said that around 43,33,540 children from the age group of 9 months to 15 years will be covered in the campaign , we will cover all Govt and private schools as 80% target children will be vaccinated in schools in the first phase starting from September 2018 and the rest of 20 % will be covered by outreach and sweeping sessions.
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH & FW) has initiated measles-rubella (MR) vaccination campaign in the age group of 9 months to less than 15 years in a phased manner across the nation. MR Vaccine will become part of Routine Immunization after successful completion of the MR Campaign.
The first phase of measles-rubella vaccination campaign was launched in February 2017 in five states, namely, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. More than 3.3 crore children were vaccinated, reaching out to 97% of the intended age group. The campaign was carried out in schools, community centers and health facilities.
The second phase was rolled out from August 2017 in 8 states and Union Territories. The states included Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and Uttarakhand aiming to cover 3.4 crore children.
The Government of Jammu & Kashmir in partnership with WHO and UNICEF has been engaging with civil society organizations, partners and academia as well as media as a critical stakeholder in efforts to create trust in vaccines and address myths around immunization to ensure every child in the country gets a fair start.
Immunization 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 immunization programmes in the world, in terms of number of beneficiaries, geographical coverage and quantities of vaccine used, with nearly 26 million newborn babies targeted for immunization each year. Over 9 million immunization sessions are held every year across the country.
However, despite this extensive coverage, only 65 percent of the children in India received all vaccines during the first year of their life. To tackle the issue, the Government of India has launched Mission Indradhanush, a focused RI campaign, in pre-identified districts from across the country which accounts for the majority of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children.
The measles-rubella campaign marks the introduction of the rubella vaccine in India’s childhood immunization programme for the first time. Rubella, which is commonly referred to as German measles is a mild infection, but can have serious consequences if it occurs in pregnant women. India’s latest MR vaccine also protects against measles, a major killer of small children. Highly contagious, it spreads through contact and 1,34,200 measles deaths occurred globally in 2015, of which nearly 49,200 occurred in India – nearly 37 percent of the global burden of deaths due to measles, mainly due to complications such as diarrhea and pneumonia.
