Mission Indradhanush is a health mission of the
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
. It was launched by
Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda
Jagat Prakash Nadda (born 2 December 1960) is an Indian lawyer and politician serving as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 20 January 2020. He was the BJP's working president from June 2019 to January 2020.
Nadda is the ...
on 25 December 2014. The scheme this seeks to drive towards 90% full immunisation coverage of India and sustain the same by year 2022. Vaccination
is being provided against eight vaccine-preventable diseases nationally, i.e.
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
,
Whooping Cough,
Tetanus
Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually ...
,
Polio
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
,
Measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
, severe form of Childhood
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
and
Hepatitis B and
meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...
&
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
caused by
Haemophilus
''Haemophilus'' is a genus of Gram-negative, pleomorphic, coccobacilli bacteria belonging to the family Pasteurellaceae. While ''Haemophilus'' bacteria are typically small coccobacilli, they are categorized as pleomorphic bacteria because of ...
influenza type B; and against
Rotavirus Diarrhea and
Japanese Encephalitis in selected states and districts respectively.
201 districts will be covered in the first phase. Of these, 82 districts are in the states of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
,
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
,
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
, and
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
. The 201 districts selected have nearly 50% of all unvaccinated children in the country.
The mission follow planning and administration like PPI (Pulse Polio immunisation). Mission Indradhanush may be regarded as one of the key schemes of the
NDA
NDA may stand for:
Military
* National Defence Academy (India), a military academy in India
* National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military
* National Defense Academy of Japan, a military academy in Japan
* Nig ...
government in India.
History
Immunisation Programme in India was introduced in 1978 as ‘Expanded Programme of Immunisation’ (EPI) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. In 1985, the programme was modified as under
National Health Mission (NHM) since 2005. Despite being operational for many years, UIP has been able to fully immunise only 65% children in the first year of their life.
Goal of Mission Indradhanush
Launched on 25 December 2014, this seeks to drive towards 90% full immunisation coverage of India and sustain the same by year 2020. The ultimate goal of Mission Indradhanush is to ensure full immunisation with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age and pregnant women. The Government has identified 600 high focus districts across 28 states in the country that have the highest number of partially immunised and unimmunised children.
Earlier the increase in full immunisation coverage was 1% per year which has increased to 6.7% per year through the first two phases of Mission Indradhanush. Four phases of Mission Indradhanush have been conducted till August 2017 and more than 2.53 crore children and 68 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated.
It aims to immunise all children under the age of 2 years, as well as all pregnant women, against seven vaccine preventable diseases(like 7 colors of a rainbow/indradhanush). The diseases being targeted are
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
,
whooping cough,
tetanus
Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually ...
,
poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sym ...
,
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
,
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
,
meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...
and
Hepatitis B. In addition to these, vaccines for
Japanese encephalitis and Haemophilus influenzae type B are also being provided in selected states. In 2016, four new additions have been made namely
Rubella
Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...
,
Japanese Encephalitis,
Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent
An injection (often and usually referred to as a "shot" in US English, a "jab" in UK English, or a "jag" in Scottish English and Scots) is the act of administering a liquid, especially a drug, into a person's body using a needle (usually a hyp ...
and
Rotavirus. In 2017,
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
was added to the Mission by incorporating
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under
Universal Immunisation Programme Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) is a vaccination programme launched by the Government of India in 1985. It became a part of Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme in 1992 and is currently one of the key areas under National Rural Health ...
.
Intensified Mission Indradhanush
To further intensify the immunisation programme, PM
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) on 8 October 2017. Through this the Government aims to reach each and every child up to two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme/UIP.
The focus of special drive was to improve immunisation coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunisation to more than 90% by December 2018 instead of 2020.
Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0
To boost the routine immunisation coverage in the country, the minister of Health and Family welfare
Dr. Harsh Vardhan
Harsh Vardhan (born Harshvardhan Goel, 13 December 1954) is an Indian otorhinolaryngologist. He had served as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences in the BJP-led NDA go ...
introduced Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 to ensure reaching the unreached with all available vaccines and accelerate the coverage of children and pregnant women in the identified districts and blocks from December 2019-March 2020. This aims to achieve the
Sustainable Development Goal
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...
of ending preventable child deaths by 2030.
It aims at immunising 272 districts in 27 States and at block level (652 blocks) in
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
and
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
because of its hard to reach and tribal populations.
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Youth Affairs and others have come together to ensure the benefits of vaccines reach the last mile.
Status
In December 2014, Mission Indradhanush was launched for a targeted approach to immunisation in India, in a bid to change the tardy annual growth rate of 1 per cent. Between 2014 and 2018, India's annual immunisation growth rate has risen to 4 per cent, with an unprecedented 16 per cent rise in the number of fully immunised children.
Official data on India's immunisation coverage still stands at 62 per cent as per the National Family Health Survey 4 (2015–16). However, the Union Health Ministry's internal data, presented recently at the 4th Partners’ Forum meeting in New Delhi, stands at 83 per cent, with just 2 per cent unimmunised children.
Concurrent monitoring is a combination of provider reporting and supervisor surveys done within the system to estimate how a programme is working. The concurrent data for 2014 showed a full immunisation coverage of 67%, according to documents available with The Indian Express.
The 83 per cent coverage figure is till November 2018. However, the target that the ministry had set for itself was to touch 90 per cent by December 2018, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an upgraded version of the mission during the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly elections. A scientific study published in 2021 showed that the first two phases of Mission Indradhanush increased full immunisation rates of children by 27% and on-time receipt of vaccines by 8%.
References
{{Government Schemes in India
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Indian missions