Bhubaneshwar: The Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI 5.0) drive will be launched in Odisha on September 11 to identify and register all children under the age of 5 years and pregnant women who missed their vaccine doses, officials said on Saturday. According to officials, the IMI 5.0 drive will be carried out in three rounds between September and November 2023, with each round spanning six days. The first round will be held from September 11–16, 2023, while the second and third round will be held from October 9–14, 2023, and November 6–11, 2023 respectively. The drive intends to vaccinate 1,04,261 unvaccinated or partly vaccinated children and 19,896 pregnant women in 314 blocks in 30 districts.
Highlighting the objective of the campaign, Dr. Bijaya Kumar Panigrahy, Director of Family Welfare, said,
Odisha is committed to immunize all under-five children who may have been left out or dropped out of vaccination programmes as our objective is to vaccinate every child.
Also Read: Odisha Extends Health Scheme Benefits To Children Between Five To 18 Years Age Group
He further emphasised,
When it comes to children, mothers cannot be ignored. So all pregnant women who have missed their vaccination would also be covered during the campaign.
According to the NFHS V (2019-21), Odisha has the highest immunization coverage in the country. The full immunization coverage in Odisha has increased from 36.1 per cent (NFHS 1 report, 1992-93) to 90.5 per cent (NFHS 5 Report, 2019-21). This has significantly reduced vaccine-preventable diseases and under-5 mortality in the state.
Addressing to media, Dr Sugata Roy, Social & Behaviour Change Specialist, UNICEF, said,
Children and pregnant mothers may miss immunization due lack of knowledge on the benefits of vaccines. We would educate households and mobilize the families for uptake of vaccination.
Since 2015, ten Mission Indradhanush drives have been successfully conducted in the identified districts of Odisha.
Also Read: India Among Top Countries With Maximum Childhood Immunisation Coverage: World Health Organization
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
