PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH AT THE INAUGURATION OF HEPATITIS B PILOT
VACCINATION PROJECT
The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
launched the Pilot project for introduction of Hepatitis B Vaccine
in the Universal Immunization Programme of India, here today.
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Shri K.C. Pant, Union
Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. C.P. Thakur, MoS,
Communication and Information Technology, Shri Tapan Sikdar, MoS,
Health & Family Welfare Shri A. Raja and representatives of
World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, GAVI, World Bank, European
Commission and other UN agencies were among those present on the
occasion. The Prime Minister also released two booklets and two
postal stamps to commemorate the occasion. Following is the text
of the Prime Minister’s speech on the occasion:
"It gives me great pleasure to be with all
of you this morning. We have gathered here to launch a programme
that promises to soon become a major national initiative in healthcare.
With the inauguration of the pilot project on
Hepatitis B today, we once again
- demonstrate our commitment to promotion of public health;
- confirm our faith in the efficacy of universal immunisation
programmes; and, above all,
- reaffirm our priority to care for our children, whose health
is the wealth of our nation, and whose wellbeing is our duty
towards the future of humanity.
In my Independence Day speech last year, I had
said that, after our phenomenal success in the nationwide drive
for polio immunisation, we shall soon replicate such mass campaigns
in respect of other challenges in public health.
I must, therefore, congratulate the Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare for preparing this pilot project
on Hepatitis B immunisation.
I must also sincerely thank the Global Alliance
for Vaccines and Immunizations, the international partnership
jointly created by WHO, UNICEF, and global charities like the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for their financial assistance
and technical advice.
This pilot project is yet another fine example
of global partnership to address challenges in human development.
And what can be a greater challenge — national
as well as global — than that of ensuring the survival and wellbeing
of our children?
I am told that every year, out of 260 lakh infants
born in this country, as many as 19 lakhs do not live to see their
first birthday.
This is completely unacceptable. It is particularly
unacceptable, because in this 21st century, we have
all the technical means to prevent these deaths.
And many of these technical means, such as universal
immunization, are also highly cost-effective.
It is, of course, true that our country has made
significant progress in reduction of infant and child mortality
since independence.
Still, we have a long distance to cover. We have
to reduce it substantially to a much lower level comparable to
the countries in South-East Asia and Sri Lanka.
It is our national determination to make India
a nation of healthy people. This is the overriding objective of
the National Health Policy that we have adopted recently.
The Policy underscores our commitment, especially,
to address the healthcare needs of our poor.
For it is the poor who are the most vulnerable
to infectious and contagious diseases.
We have seen it in the case of tuberculosis and
malaria.
We have seen it in the case of HIV/AIDS.
The same is also true for Hepatitis B.
We know that Hepatitis B is many times more infectious
than HIV/AIDS and is the main cause of liver cancer.
Even when it does not kill, it causes chronic
liver problems, which severely impacts the quality of life.
I am, therefore, happy that the Ministry of Health
has started a universal immunization programme for Hepatitis B.
Although this is a pilot project, I am confident that the Ministry,
with the cooperation of the State Governments, will succeed in
its goal to cover the entire country during the Tenth Plan period.
I urge them especially to reach out in the shortest
possible time frame to all the vulnerable sections of the population
in rural as well as urban areas.
Support of civil society and involvement of voluntary
organizations is crucial for the success of this, as of any other
national health programme.
A good example is India’s pulse polio campaign.
It is today universally recognized as one of the most successful
and largest ever mass mobilizations in the world to tackle a public
health challenge.
India is now on the verge of becoming completely
polio-free.
This is thanks to the exemplary partnership between
the Central and State Governments, municipal and panchayat bodies,
the medical community, voluntary organizations, and other institutions
of civil society.
Indeed, the outreach achieved through the immunisation
programme for polio, as well as for tetanus for pregnant women,
and six basic vaccines for infants, has now become a useful vehicle
for delivery of a whole range of public health services.
Nevertheless, it is a matter of concern that
nearly 45 percent of our children are not yet immunized with all
the six basic vaccines. As many as 14 percent of our children
still receive no vaccination at all.
Therefore, our experience of public-private partnership
in immunisation needs to be further institutionalized. It should
also be used for further improving the delivery of services for
maternal and child health, family planning, sanitation, provision
of clean drinking water, and basic health education of all our
citizens.
In this context, I look forward to the early
adoption of the national strategy for social franchising of reproductive
and child health care services.
I especially urge all those engaged in planning
and executing our health programmes to also effectively address
inter-State imbalances. I am told that while Tamil Nadu, Himachal
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, and Karnataka usually achieve 80
percent coverage of child vaccination, it is as low as 20 to 10
percent in States like Assam, Rajasthan, and Bihar.
Along with regional imbalances, we must also
resolve to eliminate social imbalances in healthcare. Our first
concern should be for children belonging to the scheduled tribes
and castes, who are still the most neglected in public as well
as private delivery of health services.
If I may say so, pilot projects like this one
should be considered successful only when they quickly lead to
national public health programmes running on auto-pilot, and automatically
reaching out to the poor and neglected.
Friends, our public health programmes have benefited
immensely from scientific research in both India and abroad. Nevertheless,
we continue to look to medical R&D for more benefits.
For example, besides the six basic vaccine preventable
diseases, vaccines are also now available for a large number of
other diseases. But several of these vaccines are still very expensive.
We need to make them affordable for universal coverage.
There is another challenge. We know that unsafe
injections are a major source of infections, including Hepatitis
B, in most developing countries. We want to expand the use of
auto-destruct syringes and needles in all our public health programmes
during the Tenth Plan period. We need technology to reduce their
cost.
Before I conclude, let me share an observation
and a hope with all of you. Last week, I visited Almaty in Kazakhstan
where we discussed ways to promote peace, security and development
in Asia. Alma-Ata, as the city was earlier called, rings a bell
in all those interested in public health. It was there that, in
1978, the World Health Organisation adopted the famous Alma-Ata
Declaration "Health For All by 2000".
That goal is still elusive. But it is not difficult
to achieve.
Funds are not the main problem in achieving this
objective. The problem is getting our delivery mechanisms right.
We should vastly expand the scope of public-private
partnership, especially for primary health care, reproductive
and child health, and public health services.
We need to look at practical models that have
worked in our own country and elsewhere and take steps to replicate
them on a large scale.
Today, as we inaugurate this important pilot
project, let us rededicate ourselves to achieving the goals set
in the National Health Policy 2002 to secure the basic healthcare
needs of all our people.
Thank you."
