That’s why I am so inspired by Indian Prime Minister Nahendra Modi’s rise from running a tea stall on the streets of Gujarat to be Prime Minister of India, one of the most populous countries in the world. Yet too often barriers such as disease persist and make breaking the poverty cycle difficult.
I recently visited India with Labor Deputy Leader, Tanya Plibersek, and I was struck by the people’s strength and potential to be architects of their own destiny. This was evident in my visit to Shikhar Microfinance clients, who with the help of small loans are running businesses to provide for their families and lift themselves out of poverty.
Yet I was also struck, like most visitors to India, by the challenges faced by families to ensure their children are healthy. As a mother, the idea that nearly 7 million children in India are not protected against diseases that my kids were routinely vaccinated against fills me with sadness.
So meeting Indian Prime Minister Modi during his visit to Australia for the G20 summit has given me new hope. His policy of 'toilets before temples' modernising sanitation, as well as for the rights of women to live without fear of rape and domestic violence are significant initiatives. Prime Minister Modi has ambitious plans to help lift India out of poverty, including ensuring every household has a toilet by 2019.
Mr Modi has another ambitious plan. He wants to drastically reduce the number of children who die before the age of five each year in India.
He certainly has his work cut out for him in this regard because a staggering 27 million babies are born in India every year, the most babies born in any country. Currently 7 million of India’s children under five remain unvaccinated against killer diseases like measles, diarrhoea and pneumonia.
Despite the challenges, there have been victories along the way.
India was declared polio free earlier this year which is a momentous achievement. However, polio can return at any time if even a small proportion of the 27 million children born each year in India miss out on being vaccinated.
A victory in the making right now is the introduction of the pentavalent vaccine that protects children against five diseases in one shot. By the second half of 2015, this vaccine will be available to every child in every state in India. If I was the mother of one of these children I’d be pretty happy about that.
These vaccination programs will be rolled out with the support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Apart from India, Gavi works in 71 other countries and since 2000 has vaccinated nearly half a billion children. This has been made possible by countries like Australia increasing aid funds into this effort, especially over the last five years.
It makes me proud to know that countries like India are increasing their own investments in health, including increased spending on vaccinations.
Mr Modi’s visionary speech to the Australian Parliament highlighted his commitment to lift India out of poverty through social and economic development. Australia can and should play a key role in that vision.
Lisa Singh is a Tasmanian Senator in the Federal Parliament for the Australian Labor Party.
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