Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0

Context:

Ministery of Health and Family Welfare s launching Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0 virtually today

Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0

• Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0 launched during Febraury 2022 will have three rounds and will be conducted in 416 districts (including 75 districts identified for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav) across 33 States/UTs in the country.
  • These districts have been identified based on vaccination coverage as per the latest National Family Health Survey-5 report, Health Management Information System (HMIS) data and burden of vaccine-preventable diseases.
• These three rounds of IMI 4.0 have been planned to catch up on the gaps that might have emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It will ensure that Routine Immunization (RI) services reach unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children and pregnant women.
  • Children up to two years will be covered in this drive.
• These districts have been identified based on vaccination coverage as per the latest National Family Health Survey-5 report, Health Management Information System (HMIS) data and burden of vaccine preventable diseases.

Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP)

• Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) is a vaccination programme launched by the Government of India in 1985
• It became a part of Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme in 1992 and is currently one of the key areas under National Rural Health Mission since 2005.
• The programme now consists of vaccination for 12 diseases- tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, hepatitis B, diarrhea, Japanese encephalitis, rubella, pneumonia (haemophilus influenzae type B) and Pneumococcal diseases (pneumococcal pneumonia and meningitis). Hepatitis B and Pneumococcal diseases were added to the UIP in 2007 and 2017 respectively. The cost of all the vaccines are borne by the state and the government spent ₹3,587 crore (US$480 million) in 2017 to purchase the vaccines to provide them for free.
• The other additions in UIP through the way are inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), rotavirus vaccine (RVV), Measles-Rubella vaccine (MR). Four new vaccines have been introduced into the country’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), including injectable polio vaccine, an adult vaccine against Japanese Encephalitis and Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine.
• Vaccines against rotavirus, rubella and polio (injectable) will help the country meet its Millennium Development Goals 4 targets that include reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, besides meeting meet global polio eradication targets. An adult vaccine against Japanese encephalitis will also be introduced in districts with high levels of the disease. The recommendations to introduce these new vaccines have been made after numerous scientific studies and comprehensive deliberations by the National Technical Advisory Group of India (NTAGI), the country’s apex scientific advisory body on immunization.
• Vaccine benefits are debated with some urging caution in the choice of vaccines introduced while expanding the immunization programme, despite overwhelming and widespread documented scientific evidence on the efficacy of vaccines.
• With these new vaccines, India’s UIP will now provide free vaccines against 13 life threatening diseases, to 27 million children annually. Calling it one of the most significant health policies in the last 30 years, the note pointed out that the latest decision along with the recently introduced pentavalent vaccine, will help prevent death in about one lakh infants and adults in the working age group, besides putting a stop to about 10 lakh hospitalizations each year.
• “The introduction of four new lifesaving vaccines, will play a key role in reducing the childhood and infant mortality and morbidity in the country.
• From February 2017, Union ministry of health and family welfare has rolled out Measles-Rubella vaccine from UIP

Mission Indradhanush (MI)

• It was launched 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, Haemophilus influenzae type B infections, Japanese encephalitis (JE), rotavirus vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and measles-rubella (MR).
  • However, vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus influenzae type B is being provided in selected districts of the country.
• Mission Indradhansuh was also identified as one of the flagship schemes under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan.

Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI)

• It was launched in October 2017.
• Under IMI, greater focus was given on urban areas which were one of the gaps of Mission Indradhanush.
• It focused to improve immunisation coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunisation to more than 90% by December 2018 instead of 2020.

About Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0

• Government of India has introduced Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 to ensure reaching the unreached with all available vaccines and accelerate the coverage of children and pregnant women in the identified districts and blocks from December 2019-March 2020.
• Aim: The IMI 2.0 aims to achieve targets of full immunization coverage in 272 districts in 27 States and at the block level (652 blocks) in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar among hard-to-reach and tribal populations.
• Several ministries, including the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Youth Affairs and others have come together to make the mission a resounding success
• Portal:A portal named Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 has been designed to manage the data reporting by different ministries/ departments, and to capture pre-campaign activities, activities during immunization rounds and post-campaign indicators on immunization coverage.

Key Features of Mission Indradhanush 2.0 for UPSC

Several departments, as well as the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Youth Affairs, and others, have joined forces to ensure the mission’s success and to assist the central government in ensuring vaccination benefits reach the final mile.

The following are the key characteristics of IMI 2.0:

• Four rounds of vaccinations will be administered over the course of seven working days, omitting RI days, Sundays, and holidays.
• Increased scheduling flexibility, mobile events, and mobilisation by other divisions will boost vaccination sessions.
• Increased emphasis on left-behinds, dropouts, and reluctant families, as well as hard-to-reach communities.
• Concentrate on underserved urban and tribal populations.
• Coordination between ministerial and departmental levels.
• Advocacy can help to increase political, administrative, and financial commitment.
• MI is an acronym for International Management Institute. Between December 2019 and March 2020, the 2.0 drive will take place in selected regions and cities.

Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0

In February 2020, the Central Government launched IMI 3.0 to further extend the coverage of the national immunization programme. The main objective of the mission is to reach the unreached population with respect to immunization and offer all the available vaccines under the Universal Immunisation Programme – UIP to all pregnant women and children under two years of age. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to achieve complete universal immunization in India.

Mission Indradhanush achievements

• Till date, ten phases of Mission Indradhanush have been completed covering 701 districts across the country.
• As of April 2021, a total of 3.86 crore children and 96.8 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated.
• The first two phases of Mission Indradhanush resulted in 7% increase in full immunization coverage in a year.
• A survey (IMI- CES) carried out in 190 districts covered in Intensified Mission Indradhanush (5th phase of Mission Indradhanush) shows 5% points increase in full immunization coverage as compared to NFHS-4.
• The immunization coverage has shown a considerable improvement as per the latest reports of National Family Health Survey (2019-21) as compared to National Family Health Survey -4(2015-16).
• The Full Immunization Coverage among children aged 12-23 months of age has increased from 62% (NFHS-4) to 76.4% (NFHS-5).
• Mission Indradhansuh was identified as one of the flagship schemes under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan.

Pulse Polio Immunization Programme

• With the global initiative of eradication of polio in 1988 following the World Health Assembly resolution in 1988, Pulse Polio Immunization programme was launched in India in the financial year 1994-95.
• It was started with an objective of achieving hundred percent coverage under Oral Polio Vaccine.
• Children in the age group of 0-5 years are administered polio drops during national and sub-national immunization rounds (in high risk areas) every year.
• WHO on 24th February 2012 removed India from the list of countries with active endemic wild poliovirus transmission and in 2014, India was declared Polio free.
• As a risk mitigation measure, the country has also introduced Inactivated Polio Vaccine across the country in all states.

Source: PIB

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