Source: Data provided by Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the Lok Sabha on August 8 based on reports from respective States.
Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 8
In 2022, Nagaland reported highest number of cases of Measles and Rubella among the North East States, informed data shared in the Rajya Sabha on August 8.
According to the data provided by the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Prof Satya Pal Singh Baghel in a written reply, 69 cases of Measles and one case of Rubella was reported from Nagaland.
However, the State did not record any casualties from the viral infection.
Tripura was next with 53 Measles and 3 Rubella cases, while Manipur reported 50 and 4 cases respectively. The cases were lowest in Sikkim at just three cases each of Measles & Rubella. Mizoram also reported 7 Measles & 6 Rubella cases.
Across India, cases of Measles were highest in Uttar Pradesh at 4175 followed by 3618 in Gujarat and Jharkhand (3515).
Uttar Pradesh also had the highest number of Rubella cases at 474, while Maharashtra was second with 416 cases. West Bengal was on the third at 189 cases.
Meanwhile, Prof Baghel informed that the Government is taking many measures to control the infection including the nationwide Measles and Rubella Vaccination campaign for children in the age group of 9 months to 15 years.
A roadmap for Measles and Rubella (MR) Elimination has been prepared and disseminated to all the States/Union Territories (UTs) with a focus to improve coverage of Measles and Rubella vaccine and strengthen surveillance, he said.
States/UTs reporting Measles outbreak have been directed to conduct Outbreak Response Immunisation (ORI) and Supplementary Immunisation Activities (SIA) to increase the coverage of the vaccine and contain outbreaks, he added.
The high numbers of reported Measles and Rubella cases seem to correlate with the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), which show full vaccination at 12-23 months during the survey period (July 15- December 6, 2019) at 57.9%. However, this was a considerable improvement from 35.4% reported in 2015-2016.
Full immunisation includes vaccination with BCG, measles-containing vaccine (MCV)/MR/MMR/Measles, and 3 doses each of polio (excluding polio vaccine given at birth) and DPT or penta vaccine.
Besides, while children aged 12-23 months who have received the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV) was high at 73.8%, those receiving second dose was just 20%.
Meanwhile, the MoHFW has also launched Intensified Mission Indradhnaush (IMI) which is a special catch-up campaign under Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), conducted in the areas of low immunisation coverage to vaccinate all the children and pregnant women left out or dropped out from Routine Immunisation.
Nagaland on August 7 joined others in launching the IMI 5.0 across the state to ensure that no children are left unimmunised. The drive will include 3 rounds (Round 1: August 7-12, Round 2: September 11-16 and Round 3: October 9-14).
During the launching, the State’s Health and Family Welfare Department affirmed that Nagaland along with rest of India is committed to eliminating Measles and Rubella (MR) by 2023 by achieving at least 95% vaccination coverage and “so IMI 5.0 will provide a big opportunity to help achieve and push towards the goal for MR Elimination too.”
