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This Children's Day, let's sign up for a better tomorrow

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Dr Sanjay Jaiswal
Dr Sanjay JaiswalNov 13, 2015 | 18:16

This Children's Day, let's sign up for a better tomorrow

As the dust settles down on the Bihar elections, we need to switch back our focus to matters of governance to facilitate India's transition to becoming a higher-middle income, developed nation. As we go along this path, we must not forget the social dimension of progress, of which health is an integral part. While we have made substantial progress in improving health outcomes of our citizens over the years, we still have a long way to go.

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As per 2015 UNICEF data, India accounts for 20 per cent of global deaths (more than 12 lakh children) among children less than five years of age. Of these, 5 lakh under-5 deaths annually are due to vaccine-preventable diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea. The Government of India has taken some commendable steps already to help rectify this situation - it has adopted the India Newborn Action Plan, rolled out Mission Indradhanush with an aim to immunise all unvaccinated and partially-vaccinated children and pregnant women by 2020, started work on a new National Nutrition Strategy, and announced the inclusion of four new vaccines under its Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). However, there is still more work to be done.

India is well positioned today to move from mere activity to tangible outcomes in matters of governance. A decisive executive is working in tandem with the bureaucracy to turn around India's dismal record on child survival and adolescent health. With support from technical partners such as the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and Gavi amongst others, we can secure our country's future by helping our children and adolescents survive and thrive.

While there seems to be a broad consensus across the political spectrum to improve India's health and nutrition outcomes, we need to galvanise broad-based support and time-bound action for these issues. Most critically, we need to strengthen the political will around these issues to facilitate a higher prioritisation for health and nutrition-focused programmes in budgetary processes and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Towards this end, some of my colleagues and I have come together - cutting across party-lines - to form the Political Leaders Coalition for Child and Adolescent Health (PLCCAH). This coalition will champion the cause of children and adolescents, and focus on working with policymakers and other stakeholders to raise the parliamentary and governance discourse around rural health and malnutrition.

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We will need the support of all child survival and adolescent health champions to translate our political advocacy into action on the ground. The new beginning that we have made this Children's Day will only be worth it if we all join our hands together.

Last updated: November 13, 2015 | 18:16
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