The Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) was launched in 2018 by the Central Government with the objective of covering all children under the age of two and pregnant women for immunization who were not covered under the UIP.
- This program was to intensify the Mission Indradhanush that had been launched in 2014.
- The objective of Mission Indradhanush was to have a 90% coverage of the UIP in India by 2020 and sustain the same.
- IMI 2.0. was launched in December 2019 and continued up to March 2020, to further extend the reach and coverage of the mission, including tribal and hard-to-reach areas.
- Although the scheme comes under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), it is supported by many other ministries/departments such as:
- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
- Ministry of Panchayati Raj
- Ministry of Women & Child Development
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
- The diseases covered under the mission are polio, diphtheria, measles, whooping cough, hepatitis B, tetanus, meningitis, rubella, Japanese encephalitis and pneumonia.
Mission Indradhanush
- The aim is to fully immunize more than 89 lakh children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated under UIP.
- It targets children under 2 years of age and pregnant women for immunization.
- It provides vaccination against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) i.e. diphtheria, Whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia, Hemophilus influenza type B infections, Japanese encephalitis (JE), rotavirus vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and measles-rubella (MR).
- However, Vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus influenzae type B is being provided in selected districts of the country.
- It is a nationwide initiative with a special focus on 201 high focus districts. These districts accounted for nearly 50% of the total partially vaccinated or unvaccinated children in the country.
- The rate of increase in full immunization coverage increased to 6.7% per year through the first two phases of ‘Mission Indradhanush’.
Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0
In February 2020, the Central Government launched IMI 3.0 to further extend the coverage of the national immunization programme. The main objective of the mission is to reach the unreached population with respect to immunization and offer all the available vaccines under the Universal Immunisation Programme – UIP to all pregnant women and children under two years of age. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to achieve complete universal immunization in India.
Coverage of IMI 3.0
- It will have two rounds this year which will be conducted in 250 pre-identified districts/urban areas across 29 States/UTs. The districts have been classified to reflect 313 low risk, 152 medium risk and 250 high risk districts.
- Beneficiaries from migration areas and remote areas would be targeted as they may have missed their vaccine doses during the pandemic
Key Focus Areas
- High-risk areas identified by the polio eradication programme, which includes populations residing in habitats such as urban slums with migration, nomads, brick kilns, constructions sites, other migrants, and hard to reach populations.
- Areas with low Routine Immunization (RI) coverage which had an outbreak of Measles/Vaccine Preventable Disease (VPD).
- Areas with vacant sub-centres.
- Areas with missed Routine Immunization (RI) sessions.
- Small villages, hamlets, dhanis or purbas clubbed with another village for RI sessions and not having independent RI sessions.
Intensified Mission Indradhanush
- The Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) was launched by the Government of India in 2017 to reach each and every child under two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme.
- Under IMI, greater focus has been given on urban areas which was one of the gaps of Mission Indradhanush.
- The target under IMI was to increase the full immunization coverage to 90% by December 2018. However, only 16 districts in the country have achieved 90% coverage so far.
- The Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 will target the districts which have immunisation coverage of 70% or below.
FAQs
What is Mission Indradhanush?
Mission Indradhanush is a health initiative launched by the Government of India to improve the immunization coverage of children and pregnant women. It aims to protect them from life-threatening diseases by providing vaccines against preventable diseases.
When was Mission Indradhanush launched?
Mission Indradhanush was launched on December 25, 2014, by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.