M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Dec 22: In a recent letter, the state health department has asked the deputy commissioners in Jharkhand to provide two doses with each of the Measles-Rubella vaccines to all identified but unvaccinated children in the age group of 9 months to 5 years in the wake of the outbreak of measles in the districts, some districts having more instances of the outbreak of the measles.
There were 175 instances of outbreaks of measles-rubella in 171 villages of 17 districts which were surveyed by health officials. However, these 17 districts record a poor 61.5% of the MR first dose vaccination and 59.1% of the second dose of the vaccination.
Six out of the 17 districts that performed better on the MRCV include Garhwa, Gumla, Palamu, Sahibganj, Saraikela and West Singhbhum. But when these six are combined with the other 11 districts, the overall proportion of the MR first dose and MR second dose declines.
Arun Kumar Singh, the additional chief secretary of health, has asked the DCs of these districts to improve vaccination to reach the 95 percent benchmark set by the Government of India to achieve the elimination of Measles-Rubella by 2023 from the country.
Meanwhile, there are 9 districts in the state where the MRCV coverage is below the desired percentage. These include Bokaro, Deoghar, Dhanbad, Dumka, Giridih, Godda, Jamtara, Pakur and Ranchi where coverage for two doses of the MRCV among children in the age group of 9 months to 5 years is poor. These districts will have to strive hard to achieve at least 95 percent coverage for the MRCV, reminded the ACS Health in his letter.
Only Garhwa, Gumla, Palamu, Sahibganj, Saraikela and West Singhbhum, as mentioned in the letter, have achieved 100 percent MRCV coverage.
A copy of this letter from the ACS health has also been sent to the state representative of the WHO National Polio Surveillance Project, JSI (Journal of Stomatological Investigation Oral medicine which is a global health consulting organisation), Director in Chief Health Services government of Jharkhand, all civil surgeons, district reproductive child health officers etc.
