NEW YORK
Arogya World announced today a new Commitment to Action at The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2024 Annual Meeting, to help the next generation in India lead healthier lives. The global health non-profit is committed to reaching 5 million adolescents (11-14-year-old middle school children) from rural and urban India, and helping them improve their health. Over the next 4 years, the non-profit has also pledged to get 400 schools to become Arogya Schools, and promote health throughout the school community on a sustainable basis. Joining Arogya World on this Commitment to Action are several leading organizations: Rural India Supporting Trust, a well-regarded funding partner, as well as longstanding implementation partners Child In Need Institute, (CINI), and SRU Innovations. In addition, new mission- aligned partners Rotary India Project Positive Health, The Edward and Cynthia Institute of Public Health and Roundglass Foundation have also joined the effort.
“We have designed this ambitious public health initiative to scale our proven adolescent health program, leverage the school setting as a platform for change, and teach millions of young adolescents the basics of healthy living before their lifestyle habits are fully set,” said Dr. Nalini Saligram, Founder & CEO of Arogya World. “Changing their health behaviors now is critical so that we can set the young adolescents up for a lifetime of health. These young people will fuel India’s growth and this initiative will help ensure a healthy and productive next generation and cement India’s position as an economic powerhouse on the global landscape.”
“The Rural India Supporting Trust (RIST) is proud to continue our commitment to reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by partnering with Arogya World. Our joint efforts on reducing preventable health issues in India can lead to people living healthier and more productive lives. Arogya World’s approach brings us closer and closer to winning the war against Non-Communicable Diseases,” said Paul Glick, Executive Director, RIST.
“Arogya’s adolescent health program is a very good fit with Rotary India’s Project Positive Health and we are pleased to leverage the huge mobilizing power of our Rotary Clubs and the thousands of schools they already work with, to positively impact the health of these young people, now and in the future,” said Dr. Bharat Pandya, renowned Rotary leader and one of the principals of Rotary Foundation India.
“We are proud to be a partner of Arogya World for many years, and are so pleased we have been able to bring their innovative program to hundreds of thousands of children already in West Bengal. Quality implementation marks our work and we are committed to bringing our expertise and district-wide deployment strategies to help Arogya World meet their bold goal,” said Dr. Indrani Bhattachryya, CEO, Child In Need Institute.
“We have grown with Arogya World over the years and are pleased to continue to scale their school health program in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” said Dr. Imteyaz Akhtar, Director, SRU Innovations.
“We will leverage our available institutional public health practitioners to supervise and support the implementation of this program in parts of Karnataka and other regions of India. This initiative aligns with our own priorities on health and education and will help secure a hopeful future for India’s children,” said Dr. Edmond Fernandes, Honorary Director, Edward & Cynthia Institute of Public Health (ECIPH) – a unit of CHD Group.
Arogya means ‘good health’ in Sanskrit or living life without disease. Arogya Schools are Healthy Schools with a mandate to promote health in the school, and the communities around them, year after year. Core to health becoming part of the DNA of the Arogya school, is the establishment of parent, teacher, student committees on health. The implementing partners will nominate the schools, score them on their preparedness, train and nurture them, and build capacity to roll out health programs and recognize these leading Schools in meaningful ways. Criteria for Arogya Schools have been developed with the input of implementing partners.
For more than a decade, Arogya World has been empowering people to lead healthier lives. Realizing the importance of focusing on adolescents, the nonprofit launched its Healthy Schools program in 2012. The two-year Arogya program uses age-appropriate compelling games and activities to teach 11-14-year-olds the basics of healthy living, at an impressionable age, before their lifestyle habits are set. This well-thought-through science-based effective program instills healthy living in middle school children in rural and urban India. It has shown >15% increase in awareness and about 10% improvement in behavior change. In COVID times, the content was digitized and has been deployed in >1 million kids through 2023, in traditional, digital, and hybrid modes in the school and community setting. Impact analysis of knowledge and behaviors from thousands of kids from 2015 to 2022 was done with the Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education.
India is a diabetes capital with >100 million diabetics and 136 million pre-diabetics. However, type 2 diabetes is largely preventable with 3 lifestyle changes according to WHO and landmark clinical trials – one must eat right, increase physical activity, and avoid tobacco. Prevention through behavior change is a smart solution to the diabetes tsunami. Adolescents are a prime target for Arogya’s diabetes prevention efforts as adolescence is when lifestyle habits are acquired, and there are 250+ million adolescents in India. Some of the health trends in this population are staggering – 10% of India’s adolescents are already pre-diabetic. 3 out of 4 of them get insufficient physical activity. And 1/3 of them are estimated to have high blood pressure.
About Arogya World
Arogya World (www.arogyaworld.org) is a US based 501 (c ) 3 organization tackling the massive diabetes crisis in India through prevention. The nonprofit helps adolescents and adults in rural and urban areas eat healthier and increase physical activity – behaviors that are known to keep the healthy, healthy, as well as prevent diabetes and reduce the risk of complications. Working with partners, and using a community-based approach, Arogya World delivers science-based programs to people where they live, learn and work (a doorstep health model), sparing the country’s healthcare resources for those in urgent need. Arogya has reached more than 12.5 million people in over a decade with prevention education, and has helped people change their health behaviors, with intent. Arogya World is now strategically focused on scaling the scientifically validated, core programs – mDiabetes and Healthy Schools – to reach millions more and make an even greater public health impact. The work is award-winning, and the team is especially proud of the 2022 United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on NCDs and WHO Special Programme on Primary Health Care Award. Arogya World has previously made and fulfilled multiple Clinton Global Initiative Commitments.
About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)
Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 10,000 organizations have launched more than 4,000 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs – that are making a difference in the lives of more than 500 million people in 180 countries.
.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240923684917/en/
CONTACT
Media Contact:
Kriti Pradhan
kriti@arogyaworld.org
