Covid-19 induced disruption of steady health service deliveries like immunisation programmes is threatening some of the progress India has made in ensuring that children under five years of age are protected against pneumonia and diarrhoea through vaccine shot, according to the 2020 annual Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report released recently.Pneumonia is one of India’s biggest killers for children under five. Along with diarrhoea, it claims the lives of over 2.3 lakh children yearly.
Prepared by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the report shows that India has made steady progress in eradicating the diseases through the years.
For instance, said the report, in 2019, India’s immunization coverage against pneumococcal pneumonia increased by 9 per cent and the coverage of Rotavirus Vaccine (RVV) increased by 18 per cent. India’s ‘100-days agenda’ to scale up RVV will protect India’s birth cohort from life-threatening cases of rotavirus diarrhea.
However, in 2020, Covid-19 is threatening some of the progress made with the disruption of steady health service deliveries like immunization programs in India as well.
The report looked at how countries worldwide were faring based on 10 key interventions—including breastfeeding, vaccination, accessing appropriate health care providers, use of antibiotics, oral rehydration solution (ORS), and zinc supplementation.
While the report shows evidence of great progress in India, it’s not all good news, especially on the diarrhea front.
As per the progress report, “India failed to reach all four targets for treatment, but treatment for diarrhea had the lowest coverage in India; only 51 per cent of children received oral rehydration solution (ORS) and only 20 per cent of children received zinc. ORS and zinc, especially when co-packaged together, are highly effective treatments that are proven to reduce deaths from diarrhea in children.”
One of the key findings was the need to strengthen our immunization delivery programs, especially in the midst of the pandemic. When health systems are strained, the most vulnerable populations are affected, and in this case, it is the lives of millions of children.
However, nearly every country included in the report lagged in access to treatments against pneumonia and diarrhea. “While the world focuses on new innovations in vaccines to respond to the Covid-19 epidemic, we cannot afford to lose sight of the millions of children who die from preventable diseases like
pneumonia and diarrhea,” IVAC senior advisor and professor in the department of international health, Mathuram Santosham, said.