Immunization, reducing malnutrition in 11-point programme

JAIPUR: The health department will organize a special screening to identify malnourished children and admit them at malnutrition treatment centre (MTC) and boost immunization which have been included in the 11-point programme of department.

As far as immunization of children is concerned, till December, 60% of target for the financial year has been achieved. But they have three more months to achieve the full target. At present, vaccines are given to children against seven diseases including tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, hepatitis B and measles. The health department also plans to boost immunization that would eventually improve infant mortality rate (IMR).

In fact, more than 60% of the total target of administering polio drops was covered on Sunday. However, the officials claimed that they would achieve the target as they will continue to administer polio drop for the left over under-5 children for at least a couple of days in some identified districts.

A health department official said that the special campaign for immunization will be conducted in slums and other areas which are high risk areas.

Screening for malnutrition among children will also be conducted and it is also included in the list of 11-point programme. After identifying the malnutrition cases in the state, the children will be admitted to the MTCs. At the MTCs, they will be provided nutritious food. The state had earned bad name when Rajasthan topped list of underweight births in the country born between 2010 and 2011.

Also, registry of patients suffering from tuberculosis and treatment has also been included in the list of 11-point programme.

Moreover, sonograophy machines, X-ray and ECG machines which are not in working condition will be repaired

List of other works:

Registry of tuberculosis cases and their treatment

Proper disposal of bio medical waste

Special campaign for immunization

Disposal of equipment and items which are not in use

Ensuring doctors to wear badges

Cleaning of hospitals

Source: Times of India

Rotary celebrates India’s third straight polio-free year

Rotary members worldwide are celebrating a major milestone in the global effort to eradicate polio: India, until recently an epicenter of the wild poliovirus, will mark the third anniversary of its last recorded case of the paralyzing infectious disease on Jan. 13.

On the same day in 2011, a two-year old girl suffered polio paralysis in Howrah district of West Bengal. Since then, India has not reported any new cases of wild poliovirus.  

Leaders of the humanitarian service organization see the Jan. 13 milestone as a testament to the determination of its international membership of 1.2 million men and women — and especially the 122,000 Rotary members in India — to eradicate polio through the mass immunization of children, a goal Rotary took on in 1985.

In celebration of the decades-long battle and ultimate victory over this disabling disease in India, Rotary clubs throughout the country will illuminate landmarks and iconic structures on Jan. 13. India Gate in Delhi and Red Fort in Delhi and Agra are among the structures that will carry Rotary’s dramatic message — ‘India is Polio Free’.

The three-year achievement also sets the stage for the polio-free certification of the entire South East Asia Region of the World Health Organization in the first quarter of 2014 by the Regional Certification Committee. The Indian government also plans to convene a polio summit in February to mark the occasion.

Rotary says the challenge now is to replicate India’s success in neighboring Pakistan (which is in a different WHO region), one of three remaining polio-endemic countries. Afghanistan and Nigeria are the others. Collectively, they create a reservoir from which the opportunistic disease can emerge to re-infect areas where it had been previously stopped. So-called “imported cases” are occurring now in Syria and several African countries. In 2013, imported cases in non-endemic countries outnumbered the total in the endemic countries 224 to 145, underscoring the importance of stopping the virus where it remains endemic.

“We must now stop polio in Pakistan to both protect Pakistani children and to safeguard our success in India and other countries where we have beaten this terrible disease,” says Deepak Kapur, who chairs Rotary’s India National PolioPlus Committee. “Until polio is finally eradicated globally, all unvaccinated children will remain at risk of infection and paralysis, no matter where they live.”

Rotary leaders in India are working with their Pakistani counterparts to share best practices and lessons learned during India’s successful anti-polio campaign. Rotary was particularly effective in obtaining the support of influential religious leaders in India’s Islamic communities, and Pakistani Rotary leaders are playing a similar role in efforts to counter rumors and misinformation about polio vaccinations that keep some Muslim parents from allowing their children to be immunized.

Meanwhile, National Immunization Days — during which Rotary volunteers join with health workers in an effort to reach every child under age five with the oral polio vaccine — continue in both countries. In India alone, more than 172 million children receive the vaccine during these mass immunization campaigns.

Rotary launched its polio immunization program PolioPlus in 1985 and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since the global initiative began in 1988, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 369 confirmed so far for 2013.

Rotary’s main responsibilities within the initiative are fundraising, advocacy, and social mobilization. To date, Rotary has contributed more than US$1.2 billion and countless volunteer hours to fight polio. Through 2018, every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication will be matched two-to-one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation up to $35 million a year.

Source: DailyItem

'Polio vaccine a must to avoid resurgence'

HYDERABAD: Even as India declared itself as polio-free two days ago for no reported cases of polio for three consecutive years, the polio vaccine will nevertheless continue to be a part of the routine immunization programme, experts in the city said.

However, the conventional oral polio vaccine is likely to be phased out gradually and replaced with the injectable vaccine. Doctors said that the polio vaccination drive has to continue to avoid resurgence of the debilitating disease. "Neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan still have polio. We therefore need to be very careful now," said Dr Manmohan Reddy, a senior paediatrician and member of Indian Academy of Paediatrics.

Paediatricians in the private sector have already started to recommend the injectable polio vaccine. According to Dr Jagdish Chandra, the government too is considering replacing the oral vaccine with the injectable. "People who can afford are taking the injectable vaccine though it has not reached the expected level," the paediatrician said.

In AP, the last polio case was detected from the East Godavari district in July 2008, officials from the state health department said. Two rounds of polio immunization, slated to cover 96 lakh children in the age group of 0 to 5 years, will be held across Andhra Pradesh on January 19 and February 23 this year.

"After the second round on February 23, the Government of India team along with other partners and technical experts will review the national polio immunization programme. They are likely to redesign the existing programme," said Dr K Narsinga Rao, joint director, child health and immunization.

Officials said, this year, there will be more emphasis on migrants and slums that house a large chunk of the high risk population.

Polio is a viral, infectious disease which primarily spreads through the fecal-oral route. It usually infects children under the age of five. Though eliminated in most countries, it still causes paralysis and death in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Source: Times of India

India breaks free of polio in boost to global immunization drive

A child receives polio drops at a polio booth in the central Indian city of Bhopal December 21, 2008. 
CREDIT: REUTERS/RAJ PATIDAR

India on Monday marked three years since its last reported case of polio, paving the way for it to be declared free of the crippling virus and boosting efforts to wipe out the disease globally, the Organization (WHO) said.

The country's last case of the wild polio virus was detected on Jan 13, 2011, in a two-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal. Three years without any new cases means India can be declared polio-free.

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world where the disease remains endemic.

"We give huge credit to the government... It makes us extremely proud and highly responsible for having helped the government to reach this incredible achievement," India's WHO representative, Nata Menabde, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Menabde said the WHO would officially declare India as polio-free by the end of March, when the legal process for certification was completed.

Until the 1950s, polio crippled thousands every year in rich countries. It attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection.

Source: Reuters.com

New campaign to keep the young adults healthy.

MGNREGS to include rural sanitation

Six years on, Mumbaikars win polio battle

MUMBAI: As the country stands just seven days away from being certified a polio-free nation, Mumbai will be achieving its own little milestone. 

It will be nearing six years of defeating the poliomyelitis virus despite being a city with a high migration rate. 

Asif Nagouri from Govandi was the last child to be diagnosed with the virus in March 2008. TOI recently visited his house and found out that the ailment had forced the Rajasthan natives to return to their village in Nagaur district. Asif's father Mohammed Sikander now lives here alone and works as a manager in a tea stall on Senapati Bapat Marg in Elphinstone Road.

Asif (now aged six) goes to a government school but is not as agile as other children of his age. "His ailment scared us. I shifted my family back to the village fearing that my other kids may also contract some serious infection. The quality of life in Govandi is unimaginably inhuman. Polio robbed us of our dreams of accomplishing something big in Mumbai," laments the father of four. He claims the state government did nothing to help the child recover and every penny of Asif's medical expense had to be borne by him. "I spent nearly a lakh, which was my life's savings, on his treatment in a private hospital in Kurla," said Sikander. He recollects getting his son's physiotherapy done at civic-run Sion Hospital for free though. "Asif is leading a normal life now but we have to be very careful with him. He walks with a perceptible limp and is not strong like his siblings," he says. 

But Asif's polio never deterred him from getting his other children immunized. "Yes, it is true that my son got polio despite taking all the doses on time. But that only made me more aware and cautious towards my other children," he says. "In my tryst with polio, I have learnt that immunization is the key to beat the virus," he says. 

A cent percent immunization rate still eludes India. "It is around 61% now. The Centre is now pushing all state governments to improve the immunization reach," said Dr Ravindra Banpel, regional team leader (west) for the World Health Organization. Mumbai has been faring better than the national average reaching out to 80-90% of the target population.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai

Hepatitis, Typhoid and other non-mandatory vaccines for your child – are they required?

Our doctor has recommended vaccines in addition to the mandatory ones for my baby. I want to know more about them and if they are necessary.

Most doctors recommend some additional vaccines for babies these days, considering the fact that there are many more diseases that are preventable. While some are as important as the government prescribed mandatory vaccines, there are some that you and your doctor can decide to administer or not. Here is a list of vaccines recommended by the Indian Academy of Pediatricians. It is prudent to first discuss the vaccines with your child’s doctor first and then decide to go ahead with the vaccine.

MMR vaccine – The vaccine confers protections against mumps, measles and rubella. There is some controversy surrounding this vaccine linking it to autism and inflammatory bowel disease. However, a study by the WHO has concluded that there is no evidence linking the vaccine to these conditions. The child may have slight fever and rash seven to ten days after the injection.

Hepatitis B vaccine – Added to the Universal Immunization programme in India more recently (2002), the vaccine confers immunity against Hepatitis B. Hepatitis is a viral infection affecting the liver leading to jaundice and other complications in the liver. At birth, if the mother is positive for hepatitis B, the baby needs to be vaccinated within 12 hours of birth. 

HPV vaccine – for preventing cervical cancers; can be given to girls at 10 years of age. However, there has been a debate in recent times regarding usage of the same. Consult your paediatrician; find the pros and cons of the vaccine.

HiB vaccine – for preventing meningitis (infection in the brain) caused due to Hemophilus B influenza virus.

Typhoid vaccine – for preventing the bacterial infection called typhoid spread through food or drink contaminated by urine or faeces of an infected person. Starting with fever, headache, diarrhoea or constipation, rose spots on the chest, it can lead to an enlarged spleen and liver.

Other optional vaccines:

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine – for preventing pneumococcal meningitis (affecting the brain of children) or pneumonia. Since the cost of the vaccine is quite high (single dose costs as much as Rs.4000), most parents do not opt for this vaccine.

IPV (Inactivated polio vaccine) – Given as an injection, this is the inactivated form of the virus (unlike the oral one which has live attenuated virus). It confers nasal and throat immunity to the virus.

Rotavirus vaccine – Recommended by the WHO, it prevents rotavirus infection which causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration in children.

Influenza vaccine – prevents flu or infection of the respiratory system. The vaccine holds good for a period of one year only as the constitution of the vaccine is changed every year as per the kind of flu virus prevalent at that time.

Source: health.india.com