30% children unable to avail benefit of immunisation programme

Voicing concern over many children being unable to avail benefit of Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today said 95 per cent cases of death of children are due to "absolutely and compulsorily preventable" causes.
"Although there are many vaccines in UIP, at least 30 per cent of children are still not able to avail their benefits. These may be due to several reasons but all such reasons can be managed," he said in his keynote address at the 11th International Rota virus Symposium here.
Vardhan also stressed on developing a positive and healthy living habit by which, he said, about 80 per cent of the diseases can be prevented.

He complimented the researchers, including those at the ICMR, for working ceaselessly for developing vaccines for various preventable diseases.
He said purpose of such symposiums should be not only focusing on research and treatment but also to spread the message of preventive health. "We need to equip people with a knowledge pool that helps them prevent diseases," he said.
The government is also geared up to meet the Millennium Developmental Goals for maternal and child mortality, he said.
"We do not take decisions on an arbitrary basis or based on populism, but those that are based on evidence. Anything that is decided by the symposium to protect the lives of children and mother, we will take it as a sort of order to implement for better health of India," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Health Secretary Lov Verma said Integrated Diarrhoea Control Fortnight, which was to end on August 8, has been extended till full coverage is achieved.