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, ...

. It was launched by Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda 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 Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or t ...

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, 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, i ...

and

Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

and meningitis &

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 severi ...

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 t ...

influenza type B; and against

Rotavirus ''Rotavirus'' is a genus of double-stranded RNA viruses in the family ''Reoviridae''. Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children. Nearly every child in the world is infected with a rotavirus ...

Diarrhea and

Japanese Encephalitis Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an infection of the brain caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). While most infections result in little or no symptoms, occasional inflammation of the brain occurs. In these cases, symptoms may include he ...

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 ...

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 s ...

, 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 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 The National Health Mission (NHM) was launched by the government of India in 2005 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue until March 2020. It is headed b ...

(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 Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or t ...

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,

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, i ...

, measles, meningitis and

. In addition to these, vaccines for

Japanese encephalitis Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an infection of the brain caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). While most infections result in little or no symptoms, occasional inflammation of the brain occurs. In these cases, symptoms may include he ...

and Haemophilus influenzae type B are also being provided in selected states. In 2016, four new additions have been made namely Rubella,

, Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and

. 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 severi ...

was added to the Mission by incorporating

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is a pneumococcal vaccine and a conjugate vaccine used to protect infants, young children, and adults against disease caused by the bacterium ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'' (pneumococcus). It contains purified capsul ...

under Universal Immunisation Programme.

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 fro ...

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 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 of ending preventable child deaths by 2030. It aims at immunising 272 districts in 27 States and at block level (652 blocks) in

and

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