Immunisation in India and the women behind it

In 1985, the programme was modified as 'Universal Immunization Programme' (UIP) to be implemented in phases, in order to cover all districts in the country by 1989-90, making it one of largest health programmes in the world. Despite being operational for many years, UIP was only able to fully immunise 65 per cent children in the first year of their life. To strengthen and re-energise the programme and achieve full immunisation coverage for all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace, GoI launched 'Mission Indradhanush' (MI) in December 2014. MI aims to cover all those children by 2020 who are either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against vaccine preventable diseases, in both urban and rural areas. The 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, meningitis, measles and rubella, Japanese encephalitis and rotavirus diarrhea in select states and districts. With the Mission currently in full swing,there is emphasis on reaching out to the most distant communities and settlements in the far-flung regions of many states. One such inspiring story to deliver immunisation, to areaswhere even GPS and mobile networks do not function and basic communicationis a challenge, is that of Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh. Located in the backwater zone of the Narmada river makes it extremely challenging for the health workers to access this region, which is only possible by a boat ambulance called 'Janani Express'. The Express provides regular healthcare services to the tribal dwellers of the villages nestled in these hilly areas, immunising mothers and children. Many villages of Sondwa region in Alirajpur have also been declared as flood affected and in spite of these extreme weather conditions the implementation of the immunisation programme during MI was smoothly carried out under the leadership of young and enthusiastic Dr Narendra Bhaydia, the District Immunisation Officer (DIO), Alirajpur. During the Mission, to ensure that no child was left unvaccinated, the block level officials also accompanied the health workers to the immunisation sessions. For almost 20 years, auxiliary nurse midwifery(ANM) worker Preskila Parmar has been serving this area single-handedly. Responsible for providing life-saving interventions, she administers vaccines religiously to over 5,000 people in the five villages that she covers. Parmar travels on foot around the housing clusters, each of them several kilometers apart, since there are no roads or other form of transport available in the region. Women health leaders Women in India not only play a pivotal role as ANM and ASHA workers at the grassroots level, they also passionately administer public healthcare as officials. Having worked in the government health care sector for over a decade in various capacities, Mallika Medhi, Additional Secretary cum Director of Health Services (Family Welfare), Government of Assam, is one such example. 'With the support of my team, Assam has achieved accelerated immunisation coverage from 47.1 per cent to more than 90 per cent and the highest coverage during the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI),' she shares. An avid gardener and reader, she feelsstrongly about addressing the issue of women's reproductive health in India, especially in adolescent and young women, as many women do become young mothers in India even before they turn 25. Uttar Pradesh has been a high priority state under MI, with 12 high focus districts including Bareilly, which had high rate of drop out and left out children. In the recently concluded measles-rubella vaccination campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Bareilly district achieved 99.9 per cent immunisation coverage, without any negative feedback or casualties, due to the dedication and drive of Dr Deepa Singh. The target set by the government was difficult, with 17 lakh unimmunised or partially immunised children, but Dr Singh, DIO, Bareilly, has been successfully leading the vaccination campaigns for the past two years.'The first challenge we faced was that many parents were scared and sceptical about vaccination. Gradually, we removedthe fear from their minds and convinced them. We worked for 14 hours and I feel lucky to have had a dedicated team and partners agencies like WHO and UNICEF, who were also very helpful,' she shares. 'When women take leadership roles, there is a sense of fear and doubt of whether they'll be able to accomplish the goals or not. With every achievement, I've proved that women are not only capable of taking on difficult roles but emerging out as leaders also,'she added. Talking about breaking gender stereotypes and patriarchal mindset that holds women back, another woman public healthcare official who had done exceedingly is well is Vandana Gurnani, Joint Secretary, MoHFW. Responsible for introduction of new vaccines like rotavirus, MR and PCV in the national immunization programme and developing a roadmap for a complete 90 per cent immunisation coverage across all states, Gurnani has successfully achieved 18.5 per cent increase in full immunisation coverage under her guidance and implementation of IMI, as per the latest Coverage Evaluation Survey 2018. Steering the course of the Mission in Himachal Pradesh is Mangala Sood, State Immunisation Officer, who was able to overcome vaccine resistance in many pockets of the region. She delivered immunisation to the diverse population scattered across the difficult terrain of the state, including many inaccessible areas, even blocks that are inaccessible for 5-6 months a year due to climatic conditions. Under her leadership, the full immunisation coverage of the state is now more than 95 per cent as per the Health Management Information System. ... DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: Deccan Chroniclehttps://www.udemy.com/user/salman-lanister/