PM LAUNCHES HEPATITIS B PILOT VACCINATION PROJECT
HEPATITIS B TO BE INTRODUCED
IN UNIVERSAL IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMME
AUTO-DISABLE SYRINGES TO BE
USED FOR THE PROJECT
Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
today launched a major national initiative in the healthcare with
the introduction of Hepatitis-B pilot vaccination project. Government
of India has decided to include Hepatitis-B vaccine in the National
Immunization Programme on a pilot basis in slum areas of 15 cities
and in 32 districts.
Speaking on the occasion the Prime
Minister said the introduction of pilot programme on Hepatitis
B demonstrates the Government commitment for promotion of public
health, confirms the faith in the efficacy of Universal Immunization
Programme and reaffirms the Government’s priority to care for
the children of the country. The Prime Minister expressed concern
that 45% of children in the country do not get immunized with
all the six basic vaccine and as many as 14% of the children still
receive no vaccination at all. He stressed the need of public
private partnership in the immunization to be institutionalized.
The partnership can also to be used for further improving the
delivery of services for maternal and child health, family planning,
sanitation and other public health services. The Prime Minister
expressed confidence that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
with cooperation of State Governments will succeed in its goal
to cover the entire country with Hepatitis B vaccination during
the 10th plan period.
Union Minister for Health and Family
Welfare Dr. C.P. Thakur stated that immunization against the vaccine
preventable diseases is one of the most important government programmes
through which 6 killer diseases of children namely tuberculosis,
polio, Whooping cough, tetanus, pertusis and measles have been
targeted. Hepatitis B is the seventh disease being targeted by
the Universal Immunization Programme.
In the selected cities and districts
all injectable immunizations would be provided through use of
auto-disable syringes. These syringes cannot be used after a single
injection and thus will not be recycled, the Minister informed.
The pilot project will provide Hepatitis
B vaccination to about 2 million eligible infants. For ensuring
maximum coverage, three doses of Hepatitis B vaccine would be
administered to infants when they come for their routine immunization
for DPT (Deptheria, Pertussis and Whooping cough) at 6, 10 and
14 weeks of age respectively. This dispensation will avoid extra
visits for Hepatitis B immunization and will allow ease of operations.
A small proportion of infants acquire Hepatitis B infection from
their mothers during the peri-natal period and in an ideal situation
the first dose should be provided soon after birth. Given the
fact that over 80% of the babies in the country are born at the
home and for a variety of social reasons come in contact with
health system only after one month, this schdule will be able
to cover the maximum number of infants. At a later stage when
hospital delivery rate increases, substantially, the birth-dose
can be included, the Minister said.
The Global Alliance for vaccines
and Immunization (GAVI) is providing support through commodity
assistance to Government of India for the Hepatitis B Pilot Project.
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission,
Shri K.C. Pant, Minister of State, Communication and Information
Technology, Shri Tapan Sikdar, MoS, Health & Family Welfare
Shri A. Raja and representatives of World Health Organization
(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.
