Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0. The aim of the mission is to protect children and pregnant women of the country from life-threatening diseases.
Indradhanush Mission aimed to save children and pregnant mothers from serious diseases in the country. This will give a boost to the vaccination coverage in the country.
Mission Indradhanush
In 1978, the Ministry of Health and Family welfare had introduced the Immunization Programme in India as ‘Expanded Programme of Immunization’ (EPI). The programme was modified as ‘Universal Immunization Programme’ (UIP) in 1985 to have a phased manner coverage of all districts in the country.
On December 25, 2014, Mission Indradhanush was launched as a special drive to expand full immunization coverage in India. Then on October 8, 2017, to further intensify the immunization programme, PM Modi launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI).
Through this programme, the centre aims to reach each and every child of age up to two years and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme/UIP.
Further, Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 was introduced to boost the routine immunization coverage in the country. The centre aimed to ensure all vaccines are available to children and pregnant women in the identified districts and blocks.
Around 701 districts across the country are covered under the mission and 3.86 crore children have been vaccinated until 2021. Also, more than 97 lakh pregnant women have also been immunised under the mission as of December 2021.