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Immunisation
South Asia has achieved its highest-ever immunization coverage for children, with notable progress in India and Nepal, according to new data released on Tuesday by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF for 2024. India reduced its number of zero-dose children those who have not received a single vaccine by 43 per cent, from 1.6 million in 2023 to 0.9 million in 2024. Nepal achieved a 52 per cent reduction, from 23,000 to 11,000, a WHO statement said. Pakistan also recorded its highest-ever DTP3 (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis) coverage at 87 per cent. However, Afghanistan continued to struggle, with the lowest coverage in the region and a one percentage point decline since last year, it added. The progress marks a milestone in the region's efforts to protect every child from vaccine-preventable diseases. "This is a proud moment for South Asia. More children are protected today than ever before, thanks to tireless frontline health workers, strong government leadership, ...
The national full immunisation coverage for 2023-24 was 93.50 per cent, with Lakshadweep and Jammu and Kashmir topping the list, according to the Source Health Management Information System. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav said Lakshadweep (108.79 per cent) and Jammu and Kashmir (108.66 per cent) were followed by Telangana (106.13 per cent), Delhi (105.03 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (101.26 per cent), Mizoram (101.10 per cent) and Maharashtra (101.04 per cent). Immunisation coverage was above 95 per cent in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Jharkhand Gujarat, Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh during this period. The coverage was the lowest in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu at 48.03 per cent. According to health ministry sources, some states and Union territories had figures higher than 100 per cent because of increased coverage by catch-up campaigns such as Intensified Mission Indradhan
A total of 91,237 children in the age group of 0-5 years have been administered vaccine doses during the Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme held in Goa. The immunisation programme was held on Sunday across 660 polio booth camps in Goa, as per a media statement issued by the state Directorate of Health Services. "Total 91,237 doses were administered to the children, which means an equal number of children benefitted with the programme," the official said. The target was to cover more than one lakh children during the campaign, he said. This will be followed by a house-to-house survey and coverage activity from March 4-6 during which doses for the left over children would be administered, he added.
The government is set to launch 'U-WIN' portal, designed on the lines of COVID-19 vaccine management system Co-WIN, for maintaining an electronic registry of routine immunisations. The U-WIN programme has been designed to digitise the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) and it is presently being run in a pilot mode in two districts of each state and Union Territory. The platform will be used to register and vaccinate every pregnant woman, record her delivery outcome, register every newborn delivery, administer birth doses and all vaccination events thereafter, official sources told PTI. U-WIN, which will replicate Co-WIN, was launched on January 11 in 65 districts across the country. Vaccination records under UIP are being maintained manually as of now. So this will do away with the hassle of keeping a physical record. It will enable the digitisation of session planning, and updating vaccination status on a real-time basis, an official said. Presently, multiple vaccines and dos
The Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 was launched in Nagaland along with the rest of the country on Monday with the target to immunise 2,064 pregnant women and children below 5 years in the state. Principal Director of Health and Family Welfare Vibeituonuo M Sachu launched the programme by administering the first dose to an infant at the Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) in Kohima district. During the first round, 209 sessions will be held to immunise 2,064 beneficiaries, including 1,885 children and 179 pregnant women, across Nagaland, State Immunisation Officer Dr Imkongtemsu Longchar told PTI. The drive aims to vaccinate the children and pregnant women left out during the routine immunisation activities, he said. Sachu said that IMI 5.0 aims to strengthen routine immunisation under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). A lot of beneficiaries in the first round are those who have missed different vaccines or were left out after the first dose, she said. Healthc
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Monday launched the intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 to immunise pregnant women and children below five years against life-threatening diseases. A fortnight-long enumeration of households in the state from July 15-31 this year revealed that about 72,760 children and 14,180 pregnant women were yet to be vaccinated. The present initiative would prioritise the "left out" beneficiaries and the details about their vaccination would be uploaded on U-WIN vaccinator portal of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, he said. During this intensified mission, vaccination against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) i.e. diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type B infections, Japanese encephalitis, rotavirus vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and measles-rubella would be provided, the Minister said while speaking on the occasion. "There is ...
The World Health Organization on Tuesday called for intensified efforts towards childhood immunization with a focus on reaching the 2.3 million unvaccinated and 650,000 partially vaccinated children. The WHO's South-East Asia Region complimented member countries for scaling up childhood immunization coverage to pre-pandemic level. Every child deserves to be protected against life-threatening diseases with routine immunization, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the regional director of WHO's South-East Asia region. "The momentum built with impressive efforts and immunization service recoveries must continue to benefit every child for a healthy and productive life," she said. The WHO and UNICEF estimates for national immunization coverage for 2022, released on Tuesday, show that in WHO's south-east Asia region the coverage rate for DPT3, third dose of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccines reached 91 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, a sharp increase from 82 per cent recorded in
Scientists have uncovered details regarding an immune response to a virus present in all human tissues, that kicks in in the elderly and eliminates senescent, or aging, cells in the skin. Senescent cells are those that stop dividing but do not die, accumulating in the body over time, fuelling chronic inflammation and contributing to conditions such as cancer and degenerative disorders. Eliminating senescent cells from aging tissues has been found to restore tissue balance in mice, leading to an increased healthy lifespan. When a team of scientists, led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), US, found that the number of senescent cells in samples from old individuals did not increase as the individuals got older, they realised that there is some mechanism kicking in to keep the aging in check. The scientists have described their findings in the journal Cell. Experiments have proved that in the elderly, certain immune cells called killer CD4+ T cells keep senescent cells from ...