Rapid Assessment of Measles Catch-up Campaign in a Rural Block of Haryana

Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children. With the introduction of measles vaccine in national programme since 1985, the disease burden has reduced. Coverage of the 1st dose of measles is 69.6% as per DLHS-3 survey. In the field conditions measles vaccine efficacy is 85% when given at 9 months of age and approximately 95% when given at >12 months of age. After second dose it becomes 99%. So India is conducting Measles Catch-up Campaign from 14 November to 15 December as supplementary activity as a part of global effort to reduce measles morbidity and mortality (MDG4). Rapid assessment of measles catch-up campaign in a rural block of Haryana. A cross sectional study was conducted in block Lakhanmajra of Rohtak district comprising of 24 villages. Fourty children were assessed randomly, twenty each, from every village and randomly selected school of that village by using standard WHO format for measles rapid assessment form 24.Assessment was done one day after the complete immunisation of that area. Total 1160 children (aged 9 month to 10 yrs) were assessed. A total of 66 children (5.69%) were found to be non-vaccinated, out of which 26 (2.24%)were male and 40 (3.45%)were female. The number of unvaccinated children found in schools were almost double (3.88%) of those found in homes(1.81%), and the difference was found to be statistically significant. the most common reason found by house to house survey was that, the child was out of station followed by unawareness of the campaign, while the most common reason at school was absence from school followed by needle phobia and other reasons. Altogether it is a successful programme. More attention should be focused towards better coverage in schools.