NEW DELHI: (Jun 28) India’s percentage of zero dose children to the total population has declined from 0.11 per cent in 2023 to 0.06 per cent in 2024, positioning it as a global exemplar in child health, as acknowledged by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation in its 2024 report, the Union Health Ministry said here.
According to WHO, zero-dose children are defined as those who lack access to or are never reached by routine immunisation services. They are operationally measured as those who did not receive their first dose of DTP (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis).
The ministry credited the decline in such children to its unwavering commitment to immunisation evident through its Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), which provides free vaccination services annually to 2.9 crore pregnant women and 2.6 crore infants (0′-1 year). PTI
