Mission Indradhanush
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
About Mission Indradhanush:
- Mission Indradhanush is a health mission of the Government of India.
- It was launched by Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda on 25 December 2014.
- The scheme this seeks to drive towards 90% full immunisation coverage of India and sustain the same by year 2020.
- Vaccination is being provided against eight vaccine-preventable diseases nationally, i.e. Diphtheria, Whooping Cough, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, severe form of Childhood Tuberculosis and Hepatitis B and meningitis & pneumonia caused by Haemophilus influenza type B; and against Rotavirus Diarrhea and Japanese Encephalitis in selected states and districts respectively.
- 201 districts will be covered in the first phase. Of these, 82 districts are in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.
- The 201 districts selected have nearly 50% of all unvaccinated children in the country.
- The mission follow planning and administration like PPI (Pulse Polio immunisation).
- Mission Indradhanush may be regarded as one of the key schemes of the NDA government in India.
History
Immunisation Programme in India was introduced in 1978 as ‘Expanded Programme of Immunisation’ (EPI) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. In 1985, the programme was modified as under National Health Mission (NHM) since 2005. Despite being operational for many years, UIP has been able to fully immunise only 65% children in the first year of their life.
Objective
The Mission Indradhanush aims to cover all those children who are either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against vaccine preventable diseases. India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) provide free vaccines against 12 life threatening diseases, to 26 million children annually. The Universal Immunization Programme provides life-saving vaccines to all children across the country free of cost to protect them against Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Hepatitis B, Pneumonia and Meningitis due to Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib), Measles, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Rotavirus diarrhoea. (Rubella, JE and Rotavirus vaccine in select states and districts).
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.
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.
