Nagaland is set to roll out Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI 5.0) across the state on August 7, with a special immunization drive targeting partially vaccinated or drop-out individuals.
According to a DIPR report, this was informed by mission director, National Health Mission (NHM) Nagaland, Dr. Ritu Thurr while delivering a keynote address at the State Task Force (STF) meeting for Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI 5.0) and Measles and Rubella (MR) Elimination on July 28 at IDSP Hall, Directorate of Health & Family Welfare.
Dr. Thurr mentioned that Nagaland was the first state in the country to carry out state-level training at the block and district levels.
He acknowledged the challenges faced during project implementation but expressed hope that overall performance and immunization coverage would improve across the state.
He also urged for technical and physical support from allied departments to achieve the desired goals.
The mission director said that the universal immunization program in India was one of the largest public health interventions worldwide.
He said the program targets a massive number of beneficiaries and involves vaccine production and distribution.
Dr. Thurr emphasized that around 30 crore pregnant women and 27 thousand newborn children are estimated to be immunized with TT injections and antigens annually. He said India stands as a leading vaccine producer globally, with 13 vaccine-preventable diseases and 12 antigens being freely supplied to beneficiaries by the government.
The mission director also mentioned the success of the U-Win pilot project in two districts, Peren and Dimapur, which facilitated the real-time tracing of beneficiaries’ names and identified partially vaccinated defaulters through a portal.
During the group discussion, officials from allied departments such as RD, school education, and school welfare highlighted the challenges and issues faced during project implementation. The participants also emphasized the importance of creating awareness about the program in all districts to ensure its success across the state.
The meeting featured PowerPoint presentations by various specialists, including SPO (WHO) Dr. Sheila Longkumer on IMI 5.0/ MR Elimination, SPO (UNDP) Kingston Karmakar on U-WIN Scaling up, SPO (UNICEF) Dr. Pangjung SBCC Consultant on Communication & Mobilisation, and SPO Dr. Khelito Zhimomi (RCH) on the RCH program.