State tops full immunisation chart  

BHUBANESWAR: With 84 per cent (pc) coverage of full immunisation of children and pregnant women, Odisha has emerged as lead performer in the country. 
A high-level review meeting held here recently under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi revealed that full package immunisation coverage in 29 of 30 districts was found more than 84 pc. Review showed that as per National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS4) of 2015-16, full immunisation coverage in the State was around 79 pc against the national average of 62 pc. The achievement of the State was further scaled up to around 84 pc in the Integrated Child Health and Immunisation Survey (INCHIS) of 2016.

Padhi directed the Health and Family Welfare department to ensure 100 pc immunisation coverage of children and pregnant women on head count basis in the districts where IMR and MMR rate was found high. As the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has drawn up an aggressive action plan to achieve full immunisation coverage target by 2018, the State Government has decided to deepen the activities under Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) in one district and one ULB namely Ganjam and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) because of comparatively less immunisation coverage in these areas. 
A head count survey will be taken up from October 7 in all blocks of Ganjam district and BMC for identification of children and pregnant women who missed one or other immunisation out of the total package of full immunisation.

Next to Kerala, Odisha is the only State where only one district and one ULB have been taken up under IMI, which is implemented in those areas of the country where immunisation coverage of 0-2 year children and pregnant mothers is less than 70 pc.IMI has been designed as a special national strategy to achieve more than 90 pc of full immunisation coverage by 2018. It envisages sustaining the achievement beyond 2020 through regular routine immunisation programmes.

Odisha is among lead performing states in pulse polio immunisation campaign launched in 1995, Hepatitis-B programme implemented in 2011, pentavalent vaccination and maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination (MNTE) programme in 2015 and injectable polio immunisation drive introduced in 2016. It was decided to start Missile Rubella (MR) campaign from January, 2018 in the State.

Report card
● Full immunisation coverage in the State was around 79 pc against the national average of 62 pc
● Achievement of the State was further scaled up to around 84 pc in INCHIS of 2016
● Odisha is the only State where only one district and one ULB have been taken up under IMI
● A head count survey will be taken up from October 7 in all blocks of Ganjam district and BMC