Melinda is amazed by mothers here

Melinda Gates is truly impressed by the spirit displayed by mothers here. Their tour of interior India and various cities brought her face to face with Indian mothers who put in great efforts to protect their children from diseases.She saw them waiting for hours on end to get their children immunised and also the great distances they travelled on foot in extreme weather conditions to come to the health centre for the vaccine.She makes a point that given a chance and necessary tools, Indian mothers will do anything to lift themselves up and their children.
The indomitable spirit of Indian mothers!
Immunisation is a phenomenon of the last few decades in India and is taken as a public health initiative for the last decade or so. I was not immunised at birth against the dreaded diseases nor was my sister. When my brother was born, mommie had read about the polio and triple vaccine shots. We lived in Tambaram and there was only one place in the entire city of Madras where one could get those shots. It was Spencers in Mount Road. Mommie used to religiously trudge the entire distance with my brother.It was seen as a very stylish act by some senior relatives in the house!She used to get many snide remarks;what was good for all children is not good enough for this kid!
But mommie, being what she is, heard all the remarks and went ahead and did what she thought was the right thing by the child.
We have come a long way in public health in general and immunisation in particular in in India. Polio vaccination has acquired the trappings of a mass movement.So much so, schools have become centres to administer the vaccine I remember once prashant was drafted in to one such project in his school.
In chennai mothers do not need to trudge for more than a few kilometres.We think it is no big deal for a mother to do this for her kid. But then Melinda thinks it is a at effort!