30-Nov-2021: Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0 Campaign

Two rounds of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 of 15 days’ duration were conducted in February 2021 & March 2021 to reach out to the pregnant women and children who missed vaccination under routine immunisation programme in 250 districts across 29 states/UTs. During Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 around 9.5 lakh children and 2.2 lakh pregnant women were vaccinated.

19-Feb-2021: Dr Harsh Vardhan launches Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0 today. Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and Shri Mangal Pandey, Health Minister, Bihar were also present during the occasion through video conference.

The Union Minister also launched the IMI 3.0 portal and released the Operational Guidelines for IMI 3.0 and the awareness material/IEC package developed as part of the campaign.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan expressed his elation at the elaborate preparations to immunize every mother and child: The Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0 will have two rounds starting from February 22 and March 22, 2021 and will be conducted in pre-identified 250 districts/urban areas across 29 States/UTs in the country. Focus of the IMI 3.0 will be the children and pregnant women who have missed their vaccine doses during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will be identified and vaccinated during the two rounds of IMI 3.0. Each round will be for 15 days each.  Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard to reach areas will be targeted as they may have missed their vaccine doses during COVID19.

Dr Harsh Vardhan noted that IMI 3.0 will build on the gains of previous phases of the campaign and make lasting gains towards Universal Immunization: “Since its first phase, Mission Indradhanush has covered 690 districts and vaccinated 37.64 million children and 9.46 million pregnant women. The present eighth campaign will target achieving 90% Full Immunization Coverage (FIC) in all districts of the country and sustain the coverage through immunization system strengthening and foster India’s march towards the Sustainable Development Goals.” Mission Indradhanush was launched in 2014 under the leadership and vision of the Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji to provide affordable and accessible healthcare to all citizens of the country, the Union Health Minister stated.

As per the Guidelines released for IMI 3.0, the districts have been classified to reflect 313 low risk; 152 as medium risk; and 250 as high risk districts.

Expanding on the role of the campaign in the context on the present COVID crisis, he said, “The country has successfully been able to contain COVID19 and the drive for two indigenous vaccines is being carried out in the country. With this, the importance of a vaccine has never been so strongly felt. Every year the Universal Immunization Programme caters to the vaccination needs of 2.65 crore children and 2.9 crore pregnant women against 12 Vaccine Preventable Diseases. Despite these efforts by all the States and UTs, some children and pregnant women get missed out from this network. Mission Indradhanush is indeed a successful strategy to reach out to every dropped out and left out child and pregnant woman. There has been remarkable improvement in the immunization coverage which is also evident in the NFHS5 data as available for 22 States.”

On the massive push to provide affordable health to the last citizen, the minister observed, “Implementing large campaigns like Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 even during the roll out of COVID-19 vaccine is a clear indication of India’s health system getting stronger day by day.  Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0 (IMI 3.0) aimed to reach the unreached population with all the available vaccines under Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) and thereby accelerate the full immunization and complete immunization coverage of children and pregnant women.” He also detailed the provisions in the Budget that lays high priority on health and wellbeing.

Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey said, “The Mission Indradhanush campaigns have proven to be tailor made for the Indian context, and have given far reaching results during the earlier phases.  Mission Indradhanush& Intensified Mission Indradhanush has enabled the immunization system in reaching hard to reach and high-risk areas including brick kilns, construction sites and nomadic population.  The previous campaigns also helped in improving the micro-planning, generating demand for immunization services and strengthening the supporting systems.”

The Ministers expressed satisfaction that COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) will be ensured during the immunization activities held as part of the IMI 3.0 campaign.  States have been asked to follow "Staggered Approach" to avoid crowding at the session sites and even plan Break-up sessions if staggered approach is not effective to avoid crowding.  The sessions are also planned in such a way that not more than 10 beneficiaries are present at the session site at one given point in time.

Ms. Vandana Gurnani, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission, Ms. Preeti Pant, Joint Secretary (Reproductive & Child Health)and other senior officials of the Ministry were present at the event.

7-Feb-2020: Intensified Mission Indradhanush

Government has launched Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 with the aim to reach out to partially vaccinated and unvaccinated children with all the available vaccines under Universal Immunization Program (UIP) across 381 districts in 29 States/UTs.

The Government has assessed the performance of Mission Indradhanush which was launched in 2014. The first two phases of Mission Indradhanush resulted in 6.7% increase in full immunization coverage. Intensified Mission Indradhanush was implemented in 2017-18. This was followed by a Coverage evaluation survey which showed an average increase of 18.5% in full immunization coverage as compared to that in National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) carried out in 2015-16.

During the various phases of Mission Indradhanush including Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan and Extended Gram Swaraj a total of 3.61 crore children and 91.45 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated, across 690 districts in 36 State/UT.

The Government aims to enhance the full immunization coverage of children by intensified focus on pockets of low immunization coverage and hard to reach areas where the proportion of unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children, including remote backward families in the country are high.

21-Nov-2019: Dr Harsh Vardhan reviews State preparedness of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 before its roll out on 2nd Dec, 2019. 

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan reviewed the preparedness within States for roll out of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 in States from 2nd December 2019. He interacted with State Principal Secretaries and NHM Mission Directors and Immunization Officers of States. Health Ministers from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha were also present during the Video Conference (VC) review.

Dr Harsh Vardhan emphasised the importance of immunisation of children and pregnant women as part of the IMI 2.0 and the high priority bring accorded by the Health Ministry for achieving Full Immunisation Coverage targets. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, IMI was launched from Vadnagar in 2017 and immunization has been given a strong push in the Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan and Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan too. The IMI 2.0 aims to achieve targets of full immunization coverage in 272 districts in 27 States and shall be implemented in the block level (652 blocks) in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. While we are required to achieve 90% immunisation coverage target, we should all aim to ensure that not even one child dies of vaccine preventable diseases. Especially when we have a basket of vaccines as part of our routine Universal Immunisation Program (UIP). With the launch of Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0, India has the opportunity to achieve further reductions in deaths among children under five years of age, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of ending preventable child deaths by 2030. 

We can take lessons from our immense experience of the polio campaign where in addition to wholehearted efforts from the states, various non-state partners and stakeholders had joined hands to achieve set targets. Let us learn from the best practices of the States, their experience of earlier rounds of Mission Indradhanush (MI) and share this knowledge for achieving last mile goals during IMI 2.0 rounds.

During the VC, States informed that they have completed the preparedness activities for roll out of IMI 2.0 from 2nd December.  Micro plans and due-lists are ready, and intense IEC activities have been implemented in the select 272 districts in 29 States where IMI 2.0 is to be rolled out.

In October 2017, the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi ji launched IMI, an ambitious plan to accelerate progress. It aimed to achieve 90% full immunization coverage with focus towards districts and urban areas with persistently low levels. IMI was built on MI, using additional strategies to reach populations at high risk, by involving sectors other than health. It was an effort to shift routine immunization into a Jan Andolan, or a “peoples’ movement”. Now the government is poised to launch Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 between December 2019 – March 2020 to deliver a program that is informed by the lessons learnt from the previous phases, and seeks to escalate efforts to achieve the goal of attaining a 90% national immunization coverage across India.

The program will be delivered in 272 districts of 27 states and 652 blocks of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar among hard-to-reach and tribal populations. Several ministries, including the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Youth Affairs, among others, will come together to make the mission a resounding success and support the central government in ensuring the benefits of vaccines reach the last mile.

The salient features of IMI 2.0 are:

• Immunization activity will be in four rounds over 7 working days excluding the RI days, Sundays and holidays.
• Enhanced immunization session with flexible timing, mobile session and mobilization by other departments.
• Enhanced focus on left outs, dropouts, and resistant families and hard to reach areas.
• Focus on urban, underserved population and tribal areas.
• Inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination.
• Enhance political, administrative and financial commitment, through advocacy.
• Intensified Mission Indradhanush immunization drive, consisting of 4 rounds of immunization will be conducted in the selected districts and urban cities between Dec 2019 - March 2020.

31-Oct-2019: Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 Portal launched

"As we mark and celebrate 25 years of the Pulse Polio Programme, it is now time to aim at 100% Full Immunization Coverage and ensure that not even one child or pregnant woman dies of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs)” said Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare. Oct 2nd, 2019 marked 25 years of the first Pulse Polio campaign in Delhi, which was later adopted and implemented by Government of India as Pulse Polio Campaign across the country. The implementation of Polio Supplementary Immunization Activity played a key role in India’s attainment of polio-free status in 2014. This achievement was coined by the WHO as “one of the most significant achievements in public health,” and marked not just India but the entire South East Asia Region being declared polio-free.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan talked about the new initiatives being taken by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to achieve the target of full immunization i.e. launch of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 from December 2019 to March 2020, wherein several ministries are coming forward to join hands in taking the mission forward. The IMI 2.0 portal, launched at the event, has been designed to capture information on the block wise target of children and pregnant women to be vaccinated during the IMI drive and also the coverage data during the rounds of activity. The data will be entered at the district level. This will help the Programme officers and administrators at the block, district, state and national level to have real time information on the progress of the campaign and also take timely action on slow progress in any particular area.

Government has opted for a ‘game changing approach’ towards sustaining the gains of immunization, ensuring a healthy and prosperous future for our country. Learnings from polio campaign have further provided guidance for rollout of Mission Indradhanush and its intensified drive under the mentorship of our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji. “Our visionary leader, Shri Narendra Modi ji has a dream of a healthy and robust India. It is our duty to contribute to this dream and ensure every child is vaccinated and grows up into a healthy citizen”.

In 1988, the World Health Assembly (WHA) passed a resolution to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The Government of Delhi piloted the first ever large scale supplementary immunization campaign with Oral Polio Vaccine(OPV) in 1994 based on evidence of successful campaigns in other countries. This was when the “Pulse Polio” immunization campaign was born, followed by iconic ‘Do Boond Zindagi Ki’ tagline. On 2nd October 1994, Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, the then Health Minister of Delhi, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, piloted the first Pulse Polio campaign in Delhi. The campaign in Delhi reached nearly 1.2 million children up to the age of three years with two doses of OPV being administered on 2nd October, 1994 and 4th December, 1994 through exclusive booth-based strategy. This strategy was later adopted and implemented by Government of India as Pulse Polio Campaigns. The polio eradication campaign brought together the government, international partners, civil society organizations, health workers, and millions of volunteers across the country. Through their dedication, India was able to overcome what had initially seemed like impossible hurdles and to stop the spread of this crippling disease.

The event kick-started with a video ‘Beginning of the Polio Journey’ to mark the journey of Polio eradication in India, documenting the implementation of first campaign. This was followed by Panel Discussion with the Pulse Polio Campaign Stalwarts (WHO, Rotary International, UNICEF) regarding strengthening immunization reach using learnings from Polio Campaign. This was followed by National Unity Day Pledge, to mark the occasion of Birth Anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Post the pledge, a session on sharing of experiences from the field pertaining to Pulse Polio Programme by Zonal Coordinator (Pulse Polio), and AWW was conducted. This concluded with a film on ‘Journey of Polio and Mission Indradhanush’ to showcase the journey of ending Polio in India, summarizing major interventions, achievements and milestones, contribution of community leaders, Health workers and achievements of Mission Indradhanush. Besides the addresses by WHO-SEARO Regional Director, UNICEF Executive Director and ex-President of Rotary International, the event also saw launch of two guidelines i.e. Operational guidelines for ‘Strengthening immunization systems to reach every child’ and ‘Operational guidelines for Strengthening Td10 and Td16 vaccine implementation’. The event ended with the administration of the ‘Immunization Pledge’ by Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

8-Oct-2017: Government launches Intensified Mission Indradhanush.

Government has launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) at Vadnagar in Gujarat. Through this programme, Government of India aims 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. The special drive will focus on improving immunization coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunization to more than 90% by December 2018. The achievement of full immunisation under Mission Indradhanush to at least 90% coverage was to be achieved by 2020 earlier. With the launch of IMI, achievement of the target has now been advanced.

The four phases of Mission Indradhanush have reached to more than 2.53 crore children and 68 lakh pregnant women with life-saving vaccines including 5.21 lakh children & 1.27 lakh pregnant women in Gujarat. Through this mission, government has accelerated the progress towards the target of 90% full immunization coverage. Earlier the increase in full immunization coverage was 1% per year which has increased to 6.7% per year through the first two phases of ‘Mission Indradhanush’.

With a sharpened focus on high priority districts and urban areas, under IMI, four consecutive immunization rounds will be conducted for 7 days in 173 districts -- 121 districts and 17 cities in 16 states and 52 districts in 8 north eastern states -- every month between October 2017 and January 2018. Intensified Mission Indradhanush will cover low performing areas in the selected districts and urban areas. These areas have been selected through triangulation of data available under national surveys, Health Management Information System data and World Health Organization concurrent monitoring data. Special attention will be given to unserved/low coverage pockets in sub-centre and urban slums with migratory population. The focus is also on the urban settlements and cities identified under National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).

Intensified Mission Indradhanush will have inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination, action-based review mechanism and intensified monitoring and accountability framework for effective implementation of targeted rapid interventions to improve the routine immunization coverage. IMI is supported by 11 other ministries and departments, such as Ministry of Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Youth Affairs among others. The convergence of ground level workers of various departments like ASHA, ANMs, Anganwadi workers, Zila preraks under National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), self-help groups will be ensured for better coordination and effective implementation of the programme.

Intensified Mission Indradhanush would be closely monitored at the district, state and central level at regular intervals. Further, it would be reviewed by the Cabinet Secretary at the National level and will continue to be monitored at the highest level under a special initiative ‘Proactive Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI)’.

This Intensified Mission is driven based on the information received from gap assessment, supervision through government, concurrent monitoring by partners, and end-line surveys. Under IMI, special strategies are devised for rigorous monitoring of the programme. States and districts have developed coverage improvement plans based on gap self-assessment. These plans are reviewed from state to central level with an aim to reach 90% coverage by December 2018.

An appreciation and awards mechanism is also conceived to recognize the districts reaching more than 90% coverage. The criteria includes best practices and media management during crisis. To acknowledge the contribution of the partners/Civil Society Organization (CSOs) and others, Certificate of Appreciation will be given.