India has eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus: PM Narendra Modi

"I am also happy to share with you today another major milestone achieved by India. India has eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus. The validation for this has happened much before the global target date of December 2015. This gives us the confidence to achieve other targets well before the target date," Modi said  at the Global ‘Call to Action’ Summit here.

Speaking on the issue of India's polio-free status , the PM said : "In addition to this remarkable achievement, another truly historic accomplishment has been the victory over Polio. India was declared as “Polio-Free” on 27 March 2014. From being a country which accounted for more than half of the global polio cases in 2009, to being declared free of the wild polio virus: the journey reflects India’s deep commitment to child health. "

He said the Centre has added the “Mission Indradhanush” to keep India polio-free and maternal and neonatal tetanus free nation.

Modi said: "To sustain the efforts of being a Polio-free and maternal and neonatal tetanus free nation, and to accelerate the full immunization coverage in the country, my Government has added to the world’s largest immunization drive another mission known as 'Mission Indradhanush'."

"It focusses on vaccinating the left-outs. It also targets to accelerate the current increase in annual rate of immunization from existing 1% to more than 5% per year. This will help us achieve more than 90% coverage by 2020, which otherwise would take more than 25 years at the current pace. The first phase has been successfully implemented. We want to ensure that no child in India dies of a vaccine-preventable disease," he said.