Topics Covered: Issues related to health.
Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report:
Context:
Released annually by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC).
Highlights of this year’s Report:
- India has made significant progress in its vaccination coverage to prevent child pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths.
- Although overall the world’s health systems are falling short of ensuring that children have access to prevention and treatment services, India has achieved the global target of 90% coverage for three of the five vaccines whose coverage is monitored in the report.
- These vaccines are Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus (DPT) vaccine, Measles-containing-vaccine first dose, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), and rotavirus vaccine.
- India has also completed the “100-day agenda” — an unprecedented national scale-up of rotavirus vaccine. This landmark vaccine expansion will help protect 26 million children born each year against life-threatening cases of rotavirus diarrhoea.
- However, India failed to reach all four targets for treatment- breastfeeding, immunisation, care-seeking and antibiotics, oral rehydration solution (ORS), and zinc supplementation.
Background- pneumonia and diarrhoea:
Pneumonia and diarrhoea are leading killers of the world’s youngest children, accounting for 29 per cent of deaths among children under age 5 – or more than 2 million lives lost each year. Yet, levels of prevention and treatment remain low, particularly among the poor.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- Pneumonia- types, causes and symptoms.
- Antigens vs Antibodies.
- How a vaccine works?
- Types of vaccines.
- About DGCI.
- Procedure to be followed for vaccine approval in India.
- About the first fully indigenously developed conjugate vaccine for pneumonia- Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine.
Sources: the Hindu.
