Shillong, May , 4 : The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India launched Mission Indradhanush ( MI ) on December 2014 as a special drive to vaccinate all unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children and pregnant women by 2020 under the Universal Immunization Programme , said Dr B Mawthoh additional Director Health Services (MH&MW).
Since the launch of Universal Immunization Programme in 1985, full immunization Programme coverage in India did not surpass 65% despite all efforts . Mission Indradhanush focuses on planned and strategic inventions to expand this coverage to more than 90% children .Under Mission Indradhanush, the Government has identified several high focus districts across the country .
These districts have been identified based on composite indicators, considering full immunization coverage , number of partially vaccinated and unvaccinated children and whether the district is an identified High Priority or High Risk district . Nearly 50% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children in India are from these districts . Intensified routine immunization campaigns in these districts will help reduce morbidity and mortality due to vaccine preventable diseases . This will be done through special catch-up campaigns to rapidly increase full immunization coverage .
Mission Indradhanush aims to strengthen key functional areas of immunization programme for ensuring high coverage throughout the country, with special attention to the identified high focus districts . The monitoring findings of previous phases of Mission Indradhanush have revealed that the previous rounds of MI in Meghalaya were adversely affected due to various factors. Therefore, considering this factors , Government of India launched Phase-4 of Mission Indradhanush from 7th February 2017 in North-Eastern states including Meghalaya. This was followed by 7 working days of intensified immunization drives for three consecutive months starting from 7th March, 7th April and the last round is due from 8th May, 2017 .
In Meghalaya, the districts identified in the current phase includes East Jaintia Hills, East Khasi Hills, North Garo Hills, South West Khasi Hills, West Jaintia Hills and West Garo Hills. Immunization sessions have been planned in the areas where the children and pregnant women are not vaccinated and are not fully protected .
This leaves them vulnerable to diseases that cannot be cured, but which can be prevented by timely vaccination . It is hoped that the public will realize the importance of this special drive and come forward to ensure a safe and healthy future for women and children of Meghalaya . We appeal to all the concerned parents and guardians of the beneficiaries to ensure that all children and pregnant women are vaccinated upto date, to help build a strong and healthy future.
