BELAGAVI One-third of the 1,14,900 children who die (as per records from the year 2014) due to measles every year are Indians, Deputy Commissioner N. Jayaram said today.
He told presspersons here on Monday that a programme from February 7 to 28 was being taken up to vaccinate nearly 13.30 lakh children below the age of 15 years as a preventive measure against Measles Rubella (MR) in the district. He appealed to all the parents to ensure that their children did not miss the vaccination.
The campaign was being taken up simultaneously taken up in other South Asian countries as well.
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Mr. Jayaram said Rubella was a mild viral infection affecting both children as well as adults. It could cause severe life-long disabilities (Congenital Rubella Syndrome) to the child if infected during pregnancy, leading to huge socio-economic burden to the family and the society too.
The Central government was working to achieve the goal of eliminating measles and control Rubella and CRS by the year 2020 in conformation with the World Health Assembly resolution (2012). The Centre had selected Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Lakshadweep in the first phase.
Accordingly, the State government had planned a massive vaccination campaign covering 1.60 crore children in the age group of 9 months to 15 years. Vaccination would be administered in all schools, fixed and outreach sessions, and via mobile teams to cover high-risk areas. Around 4,865 vaccination centres have been opened to cover the 5,250 schools. Departments of Women and Child Development, and Health, panchayat bodies and several NGOs and social organisations have joined hands with the administration for the successful implementation of the campaign.
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