Guwahati, September 23 (MExN): Seven states in North-East India will launch ‘Mission Indradhanush,’ a flagship immunization scheme of the Government of India, in an intensified manner from October 7 this year. Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) will focus on select urban areas and other pockets where immunization coverage has been low. The information was shared with journalists from the North East during a Media Sensitization workshop on IMI for NE States organized by Regional Resource Centre for North-East states (FRC-NE) and UNICEF on September 23 in Guwahati. Achieving full immunization Four immunization rounds will be conducted for 7 working days in 187 districts – 118 districts in 16 high priority states, 17 urban areas and 52 NE districts—every month between October 2017 and January 2018. Under IMI, the Govt. of India aims to reach every child under two years and pregnant women with all available vaccines under Universal Immunization Programme by 2018. During the inaugural program, Dr. Bamin Tada, Director RRC-NE, highlighted the status of Routine Immunization in the North-East. Of the seven states, 5 are below the national average of 62 percent. Sikkim has the highest coverage at 83 percent and Nagaland is the lowest in the region at 35 percent. A major concern in the region is lack of awareness among the people. Thus, Dr. Tada encouraged media persons to play a key role in sensitizing communities with accurate and timely information on the importance of achieving full immunization. Dr. C. Ravichandran, Health Specialist for North-East, UNICEF in his discussion highlighted that the first four phases of Mission Indradhanush have been completed in 528 districts across the country. More than 2.47 crore children and around 67 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated under Mission Indradhanush so far. Mission Indradhanush programme, launched in December 2014 with an aim to fully immunize more than 90% of newborns by 2020, made a substantial contribution in boosting the immunization coverage from an average 1% per year (between 2009 and 2013) to 6.7% in 2015-16, as evidenced by the Integrated Child Health and Immunization Survey (INCHIS). The half-day meet concluded after a series of technical presentations on Routine Immunization and Intensified Mission Indradhanush. Following a session on ‘Role of Media in Routine Immunization’ by Tahseen Alan, Communication Officer, UNICEF Assam, mediapersons came up with recommendations on improving coverage of health and RI stories in their respective states. The media sensitization workshop was attended by journalists, editors and representatives from Directorates of Information and Public Relation.
