Haryana to launch measles-eradication campaign

The state campaign is in line with the onetime nationwide campaign against measles

Chandigarh: The Haryana government will launch a state-wide campaign, beginning November 22, to eradicate measles disease from the state.

A special task force has been constituted for taking up this campaign initially in five districts — Gurgaon, Jhajjar, Faridabad, Mewat and Palwal — and it will continue till December 11.

"It is for the first time that such a campaign is being launched against measles. Children in the age group of 1 to 10 years would be given second dose for protection from measles whereas the first dose would be given to children in the age group of 9 to 12 months," a Haryana government spokesman said.

He added, "The state campaign is in line with the onetime nationwide campaign against measles. In the first phase, 47 districts of 14 states of the country would be covered, in which five districts of Haryana have been included."

The second phase would start in April 2011 to cover the remaining districts in north east states, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, while the third phase is proposed in September 2011 in which the remaining districts of Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, 50 per cent of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will be covered.

Around 400 teams would be constituted to cover the children in three weeks' time in Haryana. The vaccination posts would be static and the teams would not go house to house. About 57 mobile teams would be needed to cover the migrant population in far flung areas of the district.

"In the first week of the campaign, the schools would be covered while in second week, the teams would reach to the community areas and in the third week, the hard to reach areas would be covered," the spokesperson said.