MP, UNICEF to vaccinate infants against pneumonia, meningitis

06 April,2018 05:33 PM IST |  Bhopal  |  PTI

Madhya Pradesh government, with technical support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), will start a vaccination drive from Saturday to immunise infants against pneumonia and meningitis



The Madhya Pradesh government, with technical support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), will start a vaccination drive from Saturday to immunise infants against pneumonia and meningitis. The Union government's Sample Registration Survey (SRS), the findings of which were released last year, had put the infant mortality rate (IMR) in Madhya Pradesh at 52 deaths per thousand live births and called it alarming.

"We have got 26.11 lakh doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine from the Central government. Each costs Rs 3,800 and will be given to infants free of cost," the National Health Mission's MP Director S Viswanathan said today. "Training of medical officials and frontline staff has been completed and we are in a position to launch the drive across the state," he added.

Dr Vandana Bhatia, Health Specialist with UNICEF MP, said that the vaccine would be administered to infants when they are one-and-half months, three-and-half months and nine months old. "The vaccination will cover around 2 million children annually in the state," she added. According to an estimate, pneumococcal pneumonia kills 13,500 kids in MP every year, she said.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
madhya pradesh national news unicef
Related Stories