Posted: 13/10/2010
Above: Dr Martin giving the Chancellor's Human Rights Lecture
Kiran Martin made a very powerful and lasting impression during the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Human Rights Oration. The Chancellor, the Hon Alex Chernov, introduced Dr Martin and presented the apologies of the Hon Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia who was overseas and unable to attend.
The combination of Kiran as an insightful communicator and leader with the intensity of the stories of ASHA’s work in the slums of New Delhi held the packed and attentive audience in quiet and respectful awe.
In a talk entitled “Making Human Rights Real: Transforming the lives of India's poor and homeless”, she spoke compassionately and engagingly of the difficulties faced by the people of the slums, their lack of access to even the most basic services and the daily discrimination they face.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights starts with “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. There is perhaps no better way to realise people’s dignity and human rights than to ensure access to health services, to education, to employment, to housing and to ownership of that housing, to access to banking and loans. This is what ASHA does – at one level it is focussed on improving health, at another level it is about realising human rights and at yet another level it is about ameliorating the myriad of social, political, economic and cultural factors that determine our health. Whichever way you look at it is very impressive.
The great success of the lecture indicates the keen interest that so many Melburnians have in India as well as in the work of Kiran and ASHA. There is much Australia and the rest of the world can learn from the approaches taken by ASHA – how to empower marginalised communities to take control of their own destiny, how to make cities much more inclusive and how to scale up efforts even in the most disadvantaged communities. The life and career of Kiran is both an inspiration and wonderful case full of learning for the current and subsequent generations of public health leaders.
Click here to watch the lecture or download the audiofile
Written by:
Prof. Rob Moodie
Chair, National Preventative Health Taskforce
Professor of Global Health
Nossal Institute for Global Health
Level 4, Alan Gilbert Building
University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
Above: Dr Martin with Assoc. Prof. Peter Deutschmann of the Nossal Institute and the University of Melbourne's Chancellor the Hon Alex Chernov
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Originally I was wary of Asha and not keen to get involved, but then I joined a women's group and went on to train as a Community Health Volunteer. I am able to lead others because I set an example and show how people can gain so much by being part of our work.
Shakuntala, women's group president, Mayapuri
