Millions of lives are saved each day, thanks to vaccines. But to ensure that they do their work, it is important to follow a strict schedule. In one such initiative, the Bihar government will give parents of a girl child Rs 2,000 as monetary incentive if they get her covered under a two-year immunisation circle, reported TOI.
World Immunisation Week
On Friday, Dr N K Sinha, state immunization officer, attended a function to acknowledge the World Immunisation Week. He said that apart from ASHA workers, who get incentives, there was no incentive provided for immunization programme in the state. He said the state government was trying its best to meet the target of 90% immunization by December.
President of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) Bihar, Dr Birendra Kumar Singh, said only sustained vaccination programmes would eliminate diseases like polio
According to him, in 2014, the Centre had launched Mission Indradhanush. It was followed by Intensified Mission Indradhanush in 2017. This was to reach out to all partially vaccinated and unvaccinated children and pregnant women in select districts across the country.
Aim to meet UN's sustainable development goals
Currently, pneumonia and diarrhoea are the country’s leading killer infectious diseases that claim lives of children under the age of five. According to data released by the International Vaccine Access Centre in 2017, India can prevent over 90,000 child deaths and save over 1 billion USD per year if coverage of immunization programme against pneumonia and diarrhoea are considerably scaled up.
Dr
Akhilesh Kumar, secretary of IAP Bihar, believes that the inclusion of newer
vaccines will help India meet the
United Nation’s sustainable development goals to reduce under-5 mortality rate by 2030.
Universal Immunization Program (UIP) is a scheme by the Government of India. Initially under this program, the government provided vaccines for seven diseases. These diseases are polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, hepatitis B, and childhood tuberculosis. Some vaccines are not part of the UIP. But the Indian government routinely introduces new vaccines in its RI/UIP program.
Bhawana is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv
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