Union Ministry of Health launched Anti-measles Vaccination

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched anti-measles vaccination drive, Measles Catch-up Campaign. The vaccination programme was launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) to target children aged up to 10 years, particularly in 14 States where the routine immunisation coverage is less than 80 per cent. More than 13 crore children are expected to be covered under the Measles Catch-up Campaign, irrespective of their previous measles vaccination status.

The State Education Departments in the states are to set up a State Steering Committee for implementing the campaign. A nodal officer will collaborate with the principals and guardians of private and government schools for implementing the campaign. They will provide a list of the schools and of students enrolled in these schools. For each school, the vaccination programme will be completed in one day with the least disruption to academic routine. However, unlike the Pulse Polio campaign, there will be no door-to-door visits, and children will have to be mobilised from outreach areas to the session site. Mobilisation and actual vaccination will be done by accredited social health activists, auxiliary nurse midwives, male health works and other paramedical staff. The first round will be conducted in the education institutions and subsequently at the health centres.

Beneficiaries
The States that will benefit from the campaign are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh.

About Measles
Measles is a highly infectious disease which is contracted by children with low immunity and can cause acute respiratory problems, diarrhoea, and pneumonia. The disease can also result in disabilities such as visual impairment. Measles can be prevented by a single dose of vaccine if it is administered when the child is between 9 to 12 months.

Measles in India
   While India has made significant improvement in reducing child mortality due to immunisation coverage, measles continues to remain a major cause of death among children, claiming between 50000 to 100000 lives every year.  Only 69 per cent of children in the country are protected against this disease. The campaign offers an opportunity to the children to get immunised, particularly those who were left out earlier.