6 more dists to be covered under PCV programme

LUCKNOW: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), covered under the universal immunisation programme (UIP) which initially covered six districts in UP, will expand to six more districts from May 19. The districts to be covered in the second phase are Lucknow, Barabanki, Hardoi, Faizabad, Gonda and Basti. Those covered in the first phase were Kheri, Sitapur, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti. These districts had been chosen because of their poor score against health indicators such as infant mortality and maternal health. “One in every six under-five mortality happens due to pneumonia globally. The global data for 2015 says 10 lakh under-five deaths occurred due to pneumonia,” said Dr AP Chaturvedi, state immunization officer, at a workshop organised by UNICEF to discuss expansion of the vaccination programme. As per the 2010 data, 20% of the global under-five deaths due to pneumonia happen in India and in 16% cases of severe pneumonia, the cause was pneumococcal pneumonia. Pneumonia remains the leading cause of death among underfive children, killing approximately 2,400 children a day. In 2016, the disease accounted for approximately 16% of the 5.6 million under-five deaths, that is around 8,80,000 children. Most of the victims were less than 2 years of age. India is responsible for 20% of all pneumonia deaths, which is nearly 3.5 lakh. Dr Chaturvedi said vaccinations costs in the private sector but it was provided free under the immunisation programme. Last year, in six districts, 5,59,410 children were vaccinated under the programme.