Immunization & nutritional status of urban slum children

The main objective of immunizing children is to decrease the mortality and morbidity from major illness. The prevention of child mortality through immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions in resource deficient settings. (1) It is worth noting that immunization protects individuals not only from illness per se, but also from the long-term effects of that illness on their physical, emotional and cognitive development.(2)The goal of Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) is to deliver primary immunization to at least 90% of the infants. Reduction in child mortality by two-third between 1990 and 2015 is the fourth of eight Millennium Development Goals endorsed in 2000. However still in developing and under developed countries of the world, inadequate levels of immunization against childhood diseases remain a significant public health problem.