• Mira Johri, Stéphane Verguet, Shaun K Morris, Jitendar K Sharma, Usha Ram, Cindy Gauvreau, Edward Jones, Prabhat Jha, and Mark Jit.
• Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Tour Saint-Antoine, Porte S03-458, 850 Rue St-Denis, Montréal, Québec, H2X 0A9, Canada .
• Bull. World Health Organ. 2016 Oct 1; 94 (10): 718-727.

ObjectiveTo quantify the impact on mortality of offering a hypothetical set of technically feasible, high-impact interventions for maternal and child survival during India's 2010-2013 measles supplementary immunization activity.MethodsWe developed Lives Saved Tool models for 12 Indian states participating in the supplementary immunization, based on state- and sex-specific data on mortality from India's Million Deaths Study and on health services coverage from Indian household surveys. Potential add-on interventions were identified through a literature review and expert consultations. We quantified the number of lives saved for a campaign offering measles vaccine alone versus a campaign offering measles vaccine with six add-on interventions (nutritional screening and complementary feeding for children, vitamin A and zinc supplementation for children, multiple micronutrient and calcium supplementation in pregnancy, and free distribution of insecticide-treated bednets).FindingsThe measles vaccination campaign saved an estimated 19 016 lives of children younger than 5 years. A hypothetical campaign including measles vaccine with add-on interventions was projected to save around 73 900 lives (range: 70 200-79 300), preventing 73 700 child deaths (range: 70 000-79 000) and 300 maternal deaths (range: 200-400). The most effective interventions in the whole package were insecticide-treated bednets, measles vaccine and preventive zinc supplementation. Girls accounted for 66% of expected lives saved (12 712/19 346) for the measles vaccine campaign, and 62% of lives saved (45 721/74 367) for the hypothetical campaign including add-on interventions.ConclusionIn India, a measles vaccination campaign including feasible, high-impact interventions could substantially increase the number of lives saved and mitigate gender-related inequities in child mortality.

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