CHAI stresses on immunization to save lives

Ucan: The Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) organized a workshop to sensitize civil society on immunization and its effect in the country. “It is an opportunity to underscore the importance of immunization in saving lives and to encourage families to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases,” Sr Cletus Daisy, former President of CHAI, told ucanindia. Due to gaps in vaccination coverage, diseases like diphtheria, measles and Polio are making a comeback, she said.
The program was organized in collaboration with CRS and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) in New Delhi on the occasion of World Immunization Week from April 21-28. This special week (World Immunization Week) aims to promote one of the world’s most powerful tools for health – the use of vaccines to protect, or “immunize”, people of all ages against disease. Immunization is one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions and prevents between 2 and 3 million deaths every year. From infants to senior citizens, immunization protects against diseases such as diphtheria, measles, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, rubella and tetanus. The benefits of immunization are increasingly being extended to adolescents and adults, providing protection against life-threatening diseases such as influenza, meningitis, and cancers (cervical and liver cancers). However, even now, an estimated 22 million infants are not fully immunized with routine vaccines, and more than 1.5 million children under the age of 5 die from diseases that could be prevented by existing vaccines.
Sunder Bunga, Strategic planning and Manager in CHAI, said the objectives of this workshop are to reiterate the importance of immunization and provide the latest updates on immunization in India.