Increase immunisation reach, global health alliance urges India

The Indian government must help bolster routine immunisation coverage and protect more children from vaccine preventable diseases, a global health alliance has urged.

"The case for increasing immunisation coverage is clear - to protect the most vulnerable children from leading causes of death and disease - and India will play a vital role in realising that," said Seth Berkley, CEO of the Geneva-based GAVI Alliance - a public-private partnership committed to increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

Immunisation is one of the best investments for future generations of Indian children, a statement from the alliance added.

"By accelerating access to new and underused vaccines we can enable more of the world's poorest children to grow up healthier, so they can spend more time at school and have a better opportunity to live healthy and productive lives," Berkley noted.

Currently, 1.5 million children still die each year of vaccine-preventable diseases, and one in five children worldwide do not receive a full course of even the most basic vaccines.

With a birth cohort of 26 million infants, India is home to the largest number of these unimmunised children - 6.8 million or roughly a third of the world's total.

"In January 2014, India became GAVI's newest donor, and the first implementing country to do so," Berkley added.