A dose for healthy life….
Every child has a right to a healthy life and to be free from the preventable diseases.As a parent, it becomes our responsibility to provide this by getting them immunized and vaccinated.I refuse to bluster that we have improved from a bare 35% in 1992-93 to an insubstantial figure of 62% in 2015-16.India falls under the universal immunization programme(UIP).This programme caters to 2.7crore children.The elephantine figure provides the number one rank to India all over the world.
In India, this programme shields 4,00,000 children from the clutches of death annually.Having reached only 62 %, we still miss out on 0.72 crore children.They are at a high exposure of these diseases which can be interfered with easily.This is an alarming fact.
India is in the line of the fast developing countries.In this phase, we can not let pass our younger generation.They are the ones to secure the future of our country.Thus, basic immunization needs to reach every corner of all the villages.
There are many reasons for not being able to tackle this problem.
1-It is mainly related to the poor and uninformed section of the society.The fact remains that this population is large enough to break the safety chain of immunization.
2-Another set of grey places are the ones which have migratory labor and daily wage labor.They have a gypsy life.Most of the times due to their economic compulsions they are not able to turn up on the fixed days at small centers of vaccinations.
3-Irregular presence of the administrative staff in these centers also become a reason.
4-There has been an observation that many times the children of laborers are not counted.This is because their birth certificate or Aadhar card is from another state.Therefore, they remain faceless.This leaves them off the official statistics data.
In such circumstances, the Anganwadi and ASHA workers have a key role to play. These are the people who walk from door to door and possess complete knowledge of the community.Here, I would like to point out towards the poor pay structure and uncertainty in the contract to a regular programme which keeps them on strike and hampers the progress.
Vaccination is very important because the virus is mutating and it has become antibiotic resistance.
Himachal Pradesh government has added new vaccines for pneumococcal and rotavirus in their list and they will be extended from the state soon.The vaccines are available without any charges to support the health of our younger generation by the government.
The children who have missed certain vaccines can receive them under a catch -up schedule recommended by the doctors.The vaccines are well researched and do not have any major side effects other than pain or fever.For which the instruction and medicines are available in the dispensaries as well as the hospitals.