The Impact

 

India is a young country. However, the burden of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) has made India the diabetes and heart disease capital of the world.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed some startling facts

  • Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally.
  • Each year, more than 15 million people die from an NCD between 30 and 69 years old.
  • 85% of these “premature” deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
  • Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or 17.9 million people annually, followed by cancers (9.3 million), respiratory diseases (4.1 million), and diabetes (1.5 million). These four groups of diseases account for over 80% of all premature NCD deaths.

The only solution – is eating right, exercising, and no tobacco consumption.

More importantly, making Collaboration the foundation of all conversations. 

We have been collaborating with Governments, Corporates, Educational Institutions, and Civil Society by galvanizing them into action and collaborating to improve the health and well-being of the people. We firmly believe that multi-sector collaboration is necessary to propel India towards Sustainable Development Goal Number 3 – health for all. 

We are proud to have reached 9.3 million people across India, delivering to them a “lifestyle change prescription”, directly in the community where people live, learn, and work through our varied programs. We have partnered with global organizations to evaluate the impact.

Our meaningful efforts have been visually shown below.

Please note that the impact of a program can vary depending on its nature, goals, and execution.

 

The Healthy Schools Program 

Objective: We believe teaching middle school children to make healthy lifestyle choices, eat right, and increase physical activity before their lifestyle habits are fully set, is critical for India’s future. The program is a scientific and activity-based participatory 2-year behavior change intervention for middle school children (6-8 standard and age 11-13 years).

Impact: 10 years of effort have helped us achieve considerable results:

  • 500,000+ middle school children educated
  • Content available in 9 local languages
  • Working across 12 states of India with strong partners

Behavior Change – Impact Story

  • Healthy Schools Impact story 
    • The daily intake of vegetables increased from 61.2% to 76.9%, and the overall average servings per day of fruits, vegetables, and milk (or milk products) were significantly increased while the serving per day of carbonated drinks, fried snacks, traditional Indian sweets, and packed chips was significantly decreased.
    • Data showed significant increases in physical activity – doing physical activity/games at school and exercise at home, climbing more stairs, walking to the market, and playing outdoor games during leisure time — for both boys and girls, at private and government schools.
  • Diabetes Awareness and Prevention Education in Schools in India
    • After year 1, 94.8% of the students reported that having a balanced diet is important compared to 90.7% of students at baseline.
    • After year 1, 90.2% of students reported that dancing, climbing stairs, and doing household chores (like cleaning the house, gardening, etc) are all forms of physical exercise, as compared to 85.7% of students at baseline.
  • Education Intervention Program to Prevent Diabetes – with Stanford CARE
    • Implementing a low-cost scalable health education program utilizing peer-led group discussions and hands-on games to engage students.
    • Implementing similar school-based programs globally may potentially shift lifestyle habits to prevent NCDs.

 

A glimpse of our efforts:

Images / Video testimonials