Duration

2012-2024

Key Partners

Immunization Division, MoHFW, UNICEF, UNDP And WHO

Services

Equitable coverage

The Immunization Technical Support Unit (ITSU) is a designated extended arm of the Government of India’s (GoI) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). Managed by the JSIPL, ITSU provides techno-managerial support to MoHFW in close collaboration and coordination with immunization partners to assist India in accelerating progress towards full immunization coverage.
Since its inception, ITSU’s support and programmatic interventions have been strategically designed to improve the country’s Routine Immunization (RI) coverage, placing equity and quality at the center of all its interventions. It has helped strengthen health systems and generated evidence to guide policy decisions that have led to significant gains under the Universal Immunization Program (UIP). It has served as an in-house think tank for strategic planning to innovate, demonstrate and document best practices across the country for further scale-up.

Addressing Gaps and Challenges

Despite progress, there is mortality and morbidity due to Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. Gaps related to cold chain and vaccine logistics management, social mobilization, awareness, evidence generation, human resource capacity and accountability mechanisms must be addressed.
Reaching vulnerable communities and those who drop out or delay vaccination are not always able to access immunization services and information in a timely and safe manner. Geographic, gender and social inequities in immunization coverage make it particularly difficult for children, pregnant women, migrants and those in far-flung areas to avail health/immunization services.

Key Objectives

To provide techno-managerial support to MoHFW for scaling-up the national UIP.

To set up the Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) Secretariat within JSIPL to strengthen AEFI surveillance for the country.

To work closely with immunization partners like UNICEF, WHO and UNDP and accelerate progress in achieving 90% full immunization coverage (FIC).

JSIPL’s Role in Implementing ITSU

JSIPL was selected to manage the ITSU as a reliable government partner and dedicated entity. ITSU supports national immunization plans and serves as a ‘nerve centre’ of the national immunization program. ITSU has a key role in developing strategies and supporting the Ministry in the implementation of Mission Indradhanush.
In recent years, the team at ITSU has contributed to supporting the government on COVID-19 vaccination and uptake of services, initiating new projects in urban immunization and ramping up coverage of new vaccines. As a think tank for the government, its interventions result from a well- planned collaboration with partners, steering their technical resources and skill sets towards creating an enabling environment for achieving FIC.

Achievements Of JSI in ITSU

Strengthening program implementation by anchoring national and state implementation teams to formulate immunization strategies and field activities.
Revitalizing investments in strategic communications by including advocacy and targeted messaging; social and community mobilization; strategic information, education and communication activities; and media outreach for tackling disinformation.
Stepping up AEFI case investigation by improving AEFI reporting and setting up systems for supporting state and district AEFI committees to record cases.
Ramping up COVID-19 vaccine roll-out and refining user experience of Co-WIN app, allowing end-to-end management of vaccine distribution.
Prioritizing urban immunization with a 3-year project initiated in 2020 to strengthen immunization services among vulnerable populations in states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Providing early management in rolling out new vaccines like Rotavirus (RVV), Measles- Rubella (MR), and Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV).

Looking Ahead

ITSU has contributed to improving vaccination coverage across the country by reaching the unreached by generating evidence.

By providing technical support to the government and enhancing the uptake of immunization in equitable and progressive ways.