India cuts up to 43% unnatural children in a year: who reports
India has reduced its zero-khurak children by 43% in a year. Despite the benefits, experts have warned that continuous efforts are required to reach unqualified areas.
In short
- In 2024, India reduced zero-khurak children to reduce 16 lakhs
- South Asia acquired 92% DTP3 vaccine coverage, which was ever recorded
- HPV vaccination campaign starting in India and Pakistan later this year
According to a new global report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, India reduced its “zero-khurak” number of children who did not receive a single vaccine, not a single vaccine up to 43% in a year.
In 2023, there were about 16 million such children in India. In 2024, the number decreased to 9 lakhs, decreasing about 700,000 unsafe children.
This improvement is a part of a large positive trend in South Asia, where the rate of vaccination has reached record height. In 2024, 92% of the infants of the region received the third dose of DTP vaccine, which protects from diphtheria, tetanus and hupping cough-2023 from 2023 and more than the pre-co-cwid levels.
Sanjay Vijsera, the regional director of South Asia, UNICEF, called it a proud moment and credited health workers and made a better plan for success. However, he also insisted that efforts should continue to reach children in remote and underscribed areas.
The report also states that measles vaccination has improved in the area. About 93% of infants received the first dose, and 88% got the second, which helps reduce measles cases by 39% in 2024. But experts say that 95% coverage is required to prevent outbreak of this highly infectious disease.
Globally, more than 14 million children were still missed by all vaccines last year, about 2023, and more than 6 million doses were received only a few doses, they were only partially preserved. India is one of the nine countries, along with Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia and others, more than half of these unwanted children.
Report warns that access to vaccines remains uneven, especially in areas facing conflict or human crises. It also increases concerns about misinformation and deduction in international assistance, which may reverse the profit made so far. WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Gabrisus said that false claims about vaccine safety and low money can work hard for decades.
“The latest estimates actually highlight a one related to the trajectory,” Dr. Kate O’Brien, WHO’s vaccination, vaccine and director of the Department of Biological, said in a news briefing.
He said, “Global vision is everywhere to benefit from lifetime of vaccines everywhere.” “But we have hit this very stubborn glass roof, and it is becoming more difficult to break through that glass to protect more children against vaccine-pre-diseases.”
Encouraged, India and Pakistan are expected to start their HPV vaccination campaigns later this year, which aims to protect girls from cervical cancer. Other countries like Bangladesh have already vaccinated over 7 million girls.
While Pragati is promising, experts say that the mission is not over. More than 2.9 million children in South Asia are still the United Nations or Under-Vattenated. Continuous efforts, awareness and support is important to ensure that each child is protected from preventive diseases.
