Shimla, October 1: The National Health Mission (NHM), Himachal Pradesh, held a state-level review-cum-reorientation workshop on HPV vaccination and routine immunisation at Hotel Radisson Jass, Bharari, Shimla, on Wednesday, with officials reviewing vaccination coverage, programme gaps and strategies to strengthen last-mile healthcare delivery.
Secretary (Health) Ashish Singhmar, IAS, who attended the workshop as chief guest, stressed the need for robust planning, community mobilisation and effective cold-chain management to ensure that every eligible adolescent girl receives timely HPV vaccination for protection against cervical cancer.
He said expanding HPV vaccination was critical to strengthening cancer prevention efforts across the state, while routine immunisation must also be strengthened to ensure that every child receives comprehensive vaccine protection.
The workshop was attended by Director of Health Services Dr Gopal Beri, Mission Director, NHM, Pradeep Kumar Thakur, IAS, Deputy Mission Director, NHM, Dr Rajesh Guleri, along with senior health officials, district and block-level medical officers and technical partners.
A key highlight was the felicitation of health blocks that recorded strong performance in the HPV vaccination campaign.
Under Category I, blocks achieving more than 90% coverage included Dhagera (Sirmaur), Pooh (Kinnaur), Galore (Hamirpur), Shillai (Sirmaur), Bharmour (Chamba) and Sangrah (Sirmaur).
Under Category II, blocks that vaccinated more than 500 eligible girls were recognised for their efforts. These included Nalagarh (Solan), Jari (Kullu), Nurpur (Kangra), Basdehra (Una), Rajpur (Sirmaur), Fatehpur (Kangra), Ratti (Mandi) and Rohanda (Mandi).
Technical sessions focused on district- and block-wise vaccination coverage, progress towards Measles-Rubella elimination, U-WIN data updation, vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) and adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) surveillance, and a review of the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK).
Officials also discussed measures to address vaccine hesitancy and improve HPV vaccine uptake among adolescent girls. The sessions highlighted the importance of identifying and tracking dropouts to sustain high coverage across all routine immunisation antigens.
The workshop concluded with an open-house discussion, where field-level officials raised operational challenges and discussed measures to improve implementation and strengthen immunisation services across Himachal Pradesh.
