Skip to main content

WHO: "Model" Gujarat's immunization coverage 73%, national average 79%; 17 of 21 major states perform better

By Rajiv Shah
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, Gujarat, which he propagated as the “model” for other states to follow, is facing a major challenge on the health front: If the World Health Organization (WHO) is to be believed, Gujarat’s immunization coverage of one-year olds is one of the worst among Indian states – 72.8% as against the national average of 78.8%.
Worse, out of 21 major Indian states, Gujarat’s immunization coverage is better than just three states – Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Even Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, known for extremely poor performance in social sector, have a better immunization coverage among the one-year olds than Gujarat, 80.6%, 82.2% and 91.7%, respectively.
A study of 10 countries, Afghanistan, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Uganda, the 92-page WHO report, “Explorations of inequality: childhood immunization”, released this month, seeks to analyze how things stand in each of these countries against the backdrop of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which resolved to combat inequalities within and among countries.
Analyzing DTP3 (which stands for three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines) immunization coverage, the report states, in India, the “coverage was equal in boys and girls and female- and male-headed households, and there was little difference between coverage in urban and rural areas”.
However, it notes gaps when one takes into account factors like mother’s education level (less-educated subgroups showing lower coverage) and wealth quintiles (poorer quintiles showing lower coverage).“DTP3 immunization coverage tended to be lower among children of mothers aged 35–49 years, children belonging to scheduled tribes and children in certain subnational regions”, the report says, adding, “There was a weak, although significant, association for mother’s age at birth and mother’s caste/tribe as well as for place of residence.”
WHO continues, “Children with highly educated mothers aged 20–49 years who belonged to the richest 20% of the population had a 5.3 times higher chance of being vaccinated, compared with children born to teenaged mothers with no education, in the poorest 20% of the population.”
The report notes, “Sex-related inequality was non-existent, as male and female children presented the same level of coverage (79%)”, adding, “Looking at mother’s characteristics, the coverage of DTP3 immunization was the same for the 15–19 years and 20–34 years subgroups (79%), while coverage was lower in the 35–49 years subgroup (70%).”
Further, it says, “The gap between the no education subgroup and the subgroup with more than secondary education was 18 percentage points.”
WHO report
Then, the report says, “There were small differentials in DTP3 coverage by mother’s caste/tribe: Coverage was higher among those in the scheduled caste, other backward class or other subgroups (coverage around 80%), whereas coverage was lower in the scheduled tribe subgroup (74%).”
It adds, “Coverage across subnational regions varied markedly. Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh had the lowest coverage at 53%, whereas 9 out of the 36 regions reported coverage of 90% or higher”.
The report believes, given this framework, key challenges for India’s health policy for better immunization activities include “weak health information systems and low capacity for monitoring and evaluation (resulting in a lack of evidence for planning and research activities); and human resource shortages in management, research and operations at all levels.”
---
Download report HERE

Comments

TRENDING

Junk food push causing severe public health crisis of obesity, diabetes in India: Report

By Rajiv Shah  A new report , “The Junk Push: Rising Consumption of Ultra-processed foods in India- Policy, Politics and Reality”, public health experts, consumers groups, lawyers, youth and patient groups, has called upon the Government of India to check the soaring consumption of High Fat Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods or ultra-processed foods (UPF), popularly called junk food.

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Astonishing? Violating its own policy, Barclays 'refinanced' Adani Group's $8 billion bonds

By Rajiv Shah  A new report released by two global NGOs, BankTrack and the Toxic Bonds Network, has claimed to have come up with “a disquieting truth”: that Barclays, a financial heavyweight with a “controversial” track record, is deeply entrenched in a “disturbing” alliance with “the Indian conglomerate and coal miner Adani Group.”

Modi govt intimidating US citizens critical of abuses in India: NY Christian group to Biden

Counterview Desk  the New York Council of Churches for its release of an open letter calling on the Biden administration to “speak out forcefully” against rising Hindu extremist violence targeting Christians and other minorities in India. In the letter addressed to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other major elected officials, the NY Council of Churches expressed "grave concern regarding escalating anti-Christian violence" throughout India, particularly in Manipur, where predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribals have faced hundreds of violent attacks on their villages, churches, and homes at the hands of predominantly Hindu Meitei mobs.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Link India's 'deteriorating' religious conditions with trade relations: US policymakers told

By Our Representative  Commissioners on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) raised concerns about the “sophisticated, systematic persecution” of religious minorities by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a hearing on India in Washington DC.

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

MS Swaminathan Counterview Desk In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers. Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’. Pointing ou

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Jharkhand: Attempt to create red scare for 'brutal crackdown', increase loot of resources

Counterview Desk  The civil rights group Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization in a statement on plans to crackdown on “64 democratic progressive organisations” in Jharkhand under the pretext of the need to investigate their Maoist link, has alleged that this an attempt to suppress dissent against corporate loot and create an authoritarian state.