ITANAGAR, Feb 13:Regional Office, Directorate of Field Publicity, Govt. of India, Itanagar today formally launched Special Outreach Programme campaign with focus on Mission Indradhanush, Mission Parivar Vikas, Tuberculosis and Leprosy in the high priority districts of Arunachal Pradesh, identified by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This special campaign will be held in West Siang, East Siang, Lohit, Lower Subansiri districts during February.

In his welcome address, Dr Keshavamurthy briefed the delegates about the 6 districts identified for TB control and 13 districts for intensified Mission Indradhanush in the state as high priority districts. These include Tirap, East Siang, East Kameng, Lower Subansiri and Papum pare for T.B.; Upper Siang, Upper Subansiri, Tirap, Changlang, Longding, East Siang, East Kameng, Kurung Kamey,  Lohit, Namsai, Kra daadi,  Anjaw and Papum Pare for Mission Indradhanush (MI). He requested the representatives of Health and Family Welfare department and NHM to extend all possible help to Field Publicity Officers to reach out to the remote villages in the state.

Joint Director Family Welfare and Consultant NHM Dr D. Padung, in his presentation on Mission Indradhanush said that during the Intensified Immunization Campaign held from October 2017 to January 2018, additional of 7.4% full immunization has been achieved and it envisaged achieving 90% by December 2018. He said only Changlang district has achieved immunization coverage of 80- 100 % and East Kameng & Kurung Kumey have coverage of less than 40%.  He said among 50% of the population not covered by full immunization, 80% are dropped out cases and 20 % are left out cases. Reason for this is 37% do not know about the programme and 32% are due for AEFI apprehension (fear, misconception about Adverse Events Following Immunization) as per a UNICEF survey conducted between April 16 to January 17 covering 4, 17,903 children.

In her presentation Dr (Mrs) Das, Joint Director, DHS explained the difficulty caused by hidden cases of Leprosy in some pockets in the state and requested DFP to help in identifying such patients with deformities to approach the Leprosy treatment centre. She also spoke about the prevalence of drug resistances cases of Tuberculosis and said that there is a DOTS Centre in all districts and in many blocks where free treatment is available and in case of resistant cases there are high tech labs in Naharlagun to detect such cases. She advised DFP to explain the fact that anti TB medication runs for 8 – 10 months and so dropped out should be encouraged to take full course.

In his speech Director IPR, Obang Tayeng stated that media is in infant stage in the state due to various reasons and we need to take advantage of satellite TVs and social media which have better reach. He appreciated All India Radio for its wider reach and assured all help from Information and Publicity department in making the campaign successful.

 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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