title: Current costs & projected financial needs of India's Universal Immunization Programme.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  India's Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is one of the largest programmes in the world in terms of quantities of vaccines administered, number of beneficiaries, number of immunization sessions, and geographical extent and diversity of areas covered. Strategic planning for the Programme requires credible information on the cost of achieving the objectives and the financial resources needed at national, State, and district levels. We present here expenditures on immunization services in India in 2012 (baseline) and projected costs for five years (2013-2017).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from the Immunization Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and immunization partners, such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The cost components were immunization personnel, vaccines and injection supplies, transportation, trainings, social mobilization, advocacy and communication activities, disease surveillance, Programme management, maintenance of cold chain and other equipment, and capital costs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total baseline expenditure was ₹ 3,446 crore [1 crore = 10 million] (US$718 million), including shared personnel costs. In 2012, the government paid for 90 per cent of the Programme. Total resource requirements for 2013-2017 are ₹ 34,336 crore (US$ 5, 282 million). Allocations for vaccines increase from ₹ 511 crore in 2013 to ₹ 3,587 crore in 2017 as new vaccines are assumed to be introduced in the Programme.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The projections show that the government immunization budget will be double in 2017 as compared to 2013. It will increase from ₹ 4,570 crore in 2013 to ₹ 9,451 crore in 2017.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Foundation of India, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Susmita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.affiliation: Public Health Foundation of India, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pant
authors.affiliation: Immunization Division, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Haldar
authors.affiliation: Immunization Division, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Mahesh Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.affiliation: Public Health Foundation of India, Gurgaon, Haryana, India; Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, Washington, DC; Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA, .
authors.forename: Ramanan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laxminarayan
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis / Q000191:economics*; D006078:Government Programs / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000191:economics*; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D014611:Vaccination / Q000191:economics*; D014944:World Health Organization