Lucknow: The Centre is planning to launch a special measles vaccination campaign in 14 states this year.
The states — where immunisation coverage have been reported below 80 per cent —were selected on basis of the recent District Level Household Survey (DLHS) data.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan will top the list since immunisation coverage in these states have been reported below 50 per cent.
For the remaining 21 states and Union Territories — where immunisation coverage was above 80 per cent — the government is planning a second round of vaccination as just one dose of vaccine was given to children so far.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting in Delhi about three weeks ago in presence of all stakeholders. The proposal has been sent to the Union Health Ministry, officials said.
A senior Central official said: “We hope the plan for special campaign in 14 states and the second dose of vaccination for the remaining states be cleared soon since it is to be implemented from this year.”
In the first phase, the government is planning to take up about 40 districts across the 14 states — UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatishgarh, Hary-ana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura. While one district will be chosen from each of the six north-east states, two districts each will be targetted from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. As for the remaining states, five districts will be chosen from each state in the first phase. Measles vaccination is usually given between the age of 1 and 15 years. In the campaign, children upto the age of 10 will be targetted.
The officials said India has become proactive on measles vaccination following international pressure to control the spread of the disease. The country still reports one of the highest number of measles cases across the world and has low immunisation coverage. Over the last one year, cases have been reported in which Indian travellers carried the virus to other countries. Hence, a need for special efforts to tackle the disease was felt in the country for long.
Dismal data
In Uttar Pradesh, the routine immunisation coverage is lowest in the country — around 30 per cent — and measles vaccination as per the DLHS-III data is around 47 per cent. In the last six months, the state has reported about 1,164 cases and 41 deaths.