Mokokchung, February 5 (MTNews):
There are 1,57,824 children in Nagaland under the age of 5, out of which 11,945 are fully immunized. This was stated by Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar, the minister of state in the ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday. It was also mentioned that 32.7% of children under 5 were stunted (height-for-age), 19.1% were wasted (weight-for-height) and 26.9% were underweight (weight-forage).
The estimated number of children under the age of 5 was based on the “Report of the technical group on projected population, India, and States 2011-2036, National Commission on Population and Office of Registrar General of India.”
A child is considered fully immunized if the child has received 1 dose of Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG), 3 doses of Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus toxoid (DPT), 3 doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and 1 dose of Measles within 1 year of age, the reply further said.
The percentages of malnourished children under five years of age, classified as stunted, wasted and underweight, was as per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019-21).
Under the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH), Flexible Pool including Child Health, which includes Routine Immunization, Pulse Polio Immunization and National Iodine Deficiency Disorder Control Program (NIDDCP), under National Health Mission (NHM), the Centre released Rs.28.33 crore, Rs.28.04 crore, Rs.26.41 crore, Rs.23.58 crore and Rs.38.20 crore during 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively.