Each year, November 14 marks World Diabetes Day, a day set aside to increase awareness of the disease, and educate the public about diabetes risks and prevention. A few days ago, on November 11, we launched the framework for our Healthy Schools and Healthy Workplace Seals of Approval in India, new programs to fight diabetes in India, where the incidence of diabetes is extremely high and growing.

On Sunday, November 7, 2010, friends and supporters of Arogya World gathered at the suburban Philadelphia, PA, home of founder Nalini Saligram. There, they enjoyed a cooking demonstration of an original recipe for a diabetes friendly after school snack created exclusively for Arogya World, by renowned chef Hemant Mathur.

In early October, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, with the support of Governor David Paterson, proposed that the USDA’s food stamp program should prohibit New Yorkers from buying sugary soft drinks with state funds. The hope, of course, is to influence people to improve their diets and be healthier, thus reducing obesity and the risk of acquiring chronic diseases like diabetes, diseases that are as expensive to manage as they are debilitating.

Dr. Fran Kaufman, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Global Medical, Clinical & Health Affairs at Medtronic Diabetes, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Pediatrics and Communications at USC, and member of Arogya World’s Indo-US Scientific Steering Committee, suggests that “By improving the quality of what the federal food program pays for now, our government will reap the profits by spending less on chronic diseases in the future.”

In its September 23, 2010, issue, the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’ published an article titled “Global Non-communicable Diseases – Where Worlds Meet,” in which authors from Emory University, including Arogya World Scientific Steering Committee member Dr. KM Venkat Narayan, discuss the growing impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries, further disproving the myth that diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease are problems only of wealthy nations.

Welcome to Arogya World and our new website! Arogya is a Sanskrit word that means “to live a life without disease,” and Arogya World’s vision is of a world in which people live longer, better lives free of the non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease) that are the cause of millions of deaths each year. These are not simply diseases of the rich and the West. In fact, nearly two out of every three deaths in the world are due to non-communicable diseases. And 80% of these deaths are in low-and middle-income countries.