-News18.com While India has been able to marginally reduce the infants infected from Diphtheria, Tetanus and Measles, the cases of Tuberculosis, Pneumonia, Pertussis and Diarrhoea have only magnified. Forty years after immunization was introduced for the first time in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed representatives from 54 countries at the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) and cited the renamed Mission Indradhanush—it aims to immunize all children under the...

-The Hindu College dropout Jeeva turns life saver for residents of a remote island in the Krishna estuary EELACHETLADIBBA (Andhra Pradesh): Four years ago, when 22-year-old Sykam Jeeva dropped out of junior college unable to cope with academics, he began working at a clinic. A resident of Eelachetladibba island in the Krishna estuary, Mr. Jeeva picked up hands-on basic medical skills at the facility in Nagayalanka, the nearest town on the mainland. Today,...

-The Telegraph Public health experts said the situation reflected India’s poor budget allocation for health programmes An impending price rise that is likely to raise India’s budget for a key Vaccine by less than Rs 100 crore has prompted the government to seek an international donor’s help at a time it has built a showpiece statue for an estimated Rs 3,000 crore. Public health experts said the situation reflected India’s poor budget allocation...

-The Hindu Why the inactivated polio Vaccine is essential for India With wild polio virus strains reduced by 99.9% since 1988, the world is inching towards eradicating polio. But unfortunately, more children today are affected by the live, weakened virus contained in the oral polio Vaccine (OPV) that is meant to protect them. The weakened virus in the Vaccine can circulate in the environment, occasionally turn neurovirulent and cause Vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV)...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The death of 14 children in two Delhi hospitals — 13 at Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases (MVID) Hospital in north Delhi and one at Lok Nayak hospital in central Delhi — due to diphtheria over the past few weeks has once again exposed the shortcomings of India’s immunisation programme. Diphtheria, an acute infectious disease, is preventable with Vaccine. However, due to the low coverage and lack of...