{"id":186788,"date":"2022-05-27T20:40:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T15:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=186788"},"modified":"2022-05-27T20:40:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T15:10:41","slug":"sighting-the-finishing-line-in-measles-rubella-elimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sighting-the-finishing-line-in-measles-rubella-elimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Sighting the finishing line in measles-rubella elimination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News<\/strong>: The COVID-19 pandemic stole two years from the MR Elimination programme. The MR elimination target has been re-set to 2023.<\/p>\n

About measles-rubella (MR) Program <\/strong><\/h5>\n

It is a program for providing immunisation<\/strong> to children from 5 to 15 years. It is being implemented as a school-based vaccination programme<\/strong> and is being conducted in all States.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, it will lead to vaccination-induced immunity <\/strong>against both Measles and Rubella diseases.<\/p>\n

To cover immunity gaps after one dose of measles vaccine, a second dose was necessary.<\/p>\n

Why is MR Elimination important?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

MR elimination is defined as zero transmission<\/strong> of measles and rubella viruses. It should have evidence of zero clinical disease, sustained over three years.<\/p>\n

It can be achieved through two methods:<\/strong> (a)<\/strong> surveillance: <\/strong>identify places where either virus is still in transmission, and (b)<\/strong> vaccination:<\/strong> two doses of the MR vaccine \u2014 the first dose between nine and 11 months and second dose ideally in the second year of life<\/p>\n

The MR vaccine is a combined product<\/strong> which targets two diseases<\/strong> in one shot. This is because fever and rash surveillance cover both diseases<\/p>\n

How was the program implemented?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The district was chosen as the ideal population-cum-administrative unit <\/strong>for efficiently implementing all activities.<\/p>\n

For epidemiological reasons, rubella vaccination had to cover children up to 15 years. School registration<\/strong> and attendance<\/strong> are high in all States and as a programme, therefore children were to be vaccinated in schools.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(A) Why should measles be eliminated? <\/strong><\/p>\n

In the pre-vaccination era<\/strong>, while polio paralysed about 1% of all children before the age of five, measles actually killed 1% of all under-five children. During measles outbreaks, the case-fatality rate may range from 10%- to 15%.<\/p>\n

It leads to loss of weight<\/strong> as well as cognitive development <\/strong>and scholastic<\/strong> performance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Measles affects the immune system<\/strong> rendering the child vulnerable to other infectious diseases.<\/p>\n

(B) Why should rubella be eliminated? <\/strong><\/p>\n

The rubella virus is a slower transmitter<\/strong>. The risk of rubella extends from childhood<\/strong> through adolescence<\/strong> into the reproductive age range<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It can show no symptoms, or with a short fever and a skin rash that is less pronounced than that of measles.<\/p>\n

In case of an infected pregnant woman, the virus has a tendency to cross the placenta. <\/strong>Affected babies are born with severe birth defects such as cataracts, deafness, heart defects and developmental delay which is called as \u2018congenital rubella syndrome\u2019 (CRS<\/strong>). This is preventable with vaccination if given prior to pregnancy.<\/p>\n

What are the issues in the implementation of the MR Elimination program?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The stakeholders such as school managements, teachers, children themselves and parents were not properly informed<\/strong> about the basis and features of the new programme.<\/p>\n

Due to a lack of information, there was antipathy towards about the programme,<\/strong> in the minds of parents and school authorities.<\/p>\n

Lack of information has led to shifting of goal posts<\/strong>. For example, the Government first missed target of 2015, and second missed target of 2020<\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/strong><\/h5>\n

In order to achieve the MR Elimination in all 773 districts, the Immunisation Division<\/strong> of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should support the state governments<\/strong>, and all the states should galvanise the district administration<\/strong> to carry out activities.<\/p>\n

The District Magistrate should activate the Task Force mechanism<\/strong> overseeing the Universal Immunisation Program (UIP) that is managed by the District Immunisation Officer.<\/p>\n

Clinical and laboratory surveillance and vaccination<\/strong> have to be sustained. Measles virus, could be imported from outside.<\/p>\n

There are 19 months available to achieve the target before the finishing line b of y July-August 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The cooperation of parents, health-care personnel at all levels, opinion leaders, influencers, the media, non-governmental organisations such as the Rotary and Lions, can play a role in making this district-by-district programme <\/strong>a story of success.<\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article \u201cSighting the finishing line in measles-rubella elimination<\/strong>\u201d published in the \u201cThe Hindu<\/strong>\u201d on 27th<\/sup> May 2022<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: The COVID-19 pandemic stole two years from the MR Elimination programme. The MR elimination target has been re-set to 2023. About measles-rubella (MR) Program It is a program for providing immunisation to children from 5 to 15 years. It is being implemented as a school-based vaccination programme and is being conducted in all States.… Continue reading Sighting the finishing line in measles-rubella elimination<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-186788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1701444591},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}