Every Child In India To Be Administered Rotavirus Vaccine By September: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi: The Union health ministry has drawn an ambitious plan to administer the Rotavirus vaccine to every child across the 36 states and Union territories in the country by September under the 100-day agenda of the government. Speaking on the expansion of the Rotavirus vaccine programme to the entire country, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday (August 9) said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the government was committed to putting an end to morbidity and mortality in children due to diarrhoea by 2022.

Also Read: Nationwide Deaths Due To Diarrhoea Have Come Down Since Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Began, Though India’s Per Person Disease Burden Remains High

Strengthening routine immunisation was an essential investment in children and it would ensure a healthy future for the country, he stressed. Diarrhoea was one of the biggest killers of children and Rotavirus was one of the common causes of severe diarrhoea in children less than two years of age, the minister said.

The Rotavirus vaccine, along with proper sanitation, hand-washing practices, ORS and zinc supplementation, will go a long way in reducing mortality and morbidity due to diarrhoea in children, he added.

Mr Vardhan said the government was also committed to increasing the full immunisation coverage and ensuring that the benefit of the life-saving vaccines was provided to every child in the country.

Also Read: Cleanliness Programmes Laudable But Tackling ‘Health’ And ‘Malnutrition’ Poses A Challenge For India: UNICEF

We stand committed to reducing child deaths and providing a healthier future to our children and the expansion of the Rotavirus vaccine programme under UIP (Universal Immunisation Programme) is a step in that direction, he added.

In India, 37 out of 1,000 children are unable to celebrate their fifth birthday and one of the major reasons for this is diarrhoeal deaths. Rotavirus is a leading cause of diarrhoea in children less than five years of age. It is estimated that Rotavirus causes 8,72,000 hospitalisations, 32,70,000 outpatient visits and estimated 78,000 deaths annually in India. The vaccine is expected to be available in all the 36 states and Union territories by September.

Also Read: 822 Million Suffer From Chronic Malnutrition, Reveals Food And Agriculture Organisation’s Report

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.