Expert group hails India’s progress in combating measles, rubella

NEW DELHI: The efforts of Union Health Minister JP Nadda to control measles and rubella have started bearing fruits as India Expert Advisory Group on Measles & Rubella (IEAG-MR) has commended India on the progress of vaccination campaign for these two diseases.

After reviewing the existing strategies and efforts towards measles elimination and control of rubella during the past two days with Health Ministry, the expert group stated that the ‘the country is on the right track' in its disease elimination programme.

Notably, both measles and rubella are the viral infection of the respiratory system and contagious in nature. Both the diseases occur most often in children and young adults.

The expert member group lauded the strong leadership of the government as well as the ownership of the state governments to ensure that every child is vaccinated against these two diseases. The expert group complimented India on the growing trend in MCV (measles-containing vaccine) coverage, and the significant reduction in MCV-1ST dose and MCV-2ND dose dropout rate which declined from 44 per cent to 13 per cent.

Commenting on the findings of the expert's group, Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said, “The country is fully committed to achieving the goal of measles elimination and rubella control to protect its children from these diseases.” Commending the state governments along with partners who have supported these efforts, Sudan credited the concerted IEC and awareness campaign to address the barriers to the vaccination.

Hailing the efforts of the Centre, Robert Kezaala of Unicef said, “India has achieved a great milestone in tackling such a major threat to children's lives and well-being through a combination of campaigns and the operation of Indradanush mission.”