Health Ministry launches Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0 for immunisation.

Why in news?

• Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday virtually launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0 that aims to protect children and pregnant women from life-threatening diseases.
• The government is implementing the largest inoculation drive globally where annually over 3 crore pregnant women and 6 crore children are covered through the Universal Immunisation Programme.
• Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0 will have three rounds and will be conducted in 416 districts (including 75 districts identified for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav) across 33 States/UTs in the country.
• In the first round (Feb-April 2022), 11 states will conduct IMI 4.0. These are Assam, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and Chhattisgarh.
• The others (22 states) will conduct the rounds from April to May 2022. These states/UTs include Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Puducherry, Delhi, Punjab, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Jharkhand, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, A & N Islands.
• The minister said the mission will ensure that the routine immunization services will reach the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children and pregnant women of the country.
• With the aim to increase the full immunisation coverage, Mission Indradhanush was launched in December 2014 to cover the partially and unvaccinated pregnant women and children in pockets of low immunization coverage, high-risk and hard-to-reach areas and protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases.
• Total of 12 vaccine-preventable diseases are covered against which free immunization is provided:
• Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, Rubella, severe form of Childhood Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, Meningitis, Pneumonia caused by Hemophilus Influenza type B, Rotavirus diarrhea, Pneumococcal Pneumonia and Japanese Encephalitis.