Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Programme for prevention of lifestyle diseases

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Programme for the Prevention and Control of Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases and Stroke, being launched by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to check the alarming rise in lifestyle diseases in the country, will be kicked off in the State in April. The programme is being implemented in seven districts across the country in the first phase. Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala is one of the districts where the pilot programme is being implemented.

The other districts in various States implementing the programme are Kamrup in Assam, Kancheepuram in Tamilnadu, Jalandhar in Punjab, Shimoga in Karnataka, Bhilwara in Rajasthan and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.

The programme has three components, health promotion for the public, disease prevention of the high-risk group and assessment of the prevalence of risk factors.

Health promotion aims at the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases through effective interventions at three levels — the community, schools and workplaces. The focus of the interventions is on behaviour change through change in dietary habits; increasing physical activity and exercise; avoidance of tobacco and alcohol and stress management.

Modification in life style requires sustained interventions. Mainstreaming the agenda of health promotion into the activities of field-level health workers, NGOs, anganwadi workers, Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and Kudumbasree activists is one of the activities planned. Government departments and Corporates would be encouraged to organise various health promotion interventions.

The programme envisages the formation of school-level health promotion committees, comprising teachers, students and parents, which can promote nutritive lunches, health camps, talks and workshops on reducing risk factors for lifestyle diseases.

The programme’s focus would be on re-orienting the public health delivery system, which is currently geared towards delivering maternal and child care, to include the care of chronic diseases.

Health-care providers at all levels would thus have to be mobilised and trained in detection of risk factors, recommendation of lifestyle interventions and dissemination of health information.

In Kerala, the Indian Institute of Diabetes (IID) has been chosen to be the nodal centre for project implementation. The IID has already identified Chirayinkeezh, Nedumangad, Neyyattinkara, Manamboor and Malayinkeezhu as the satellite centres in the district where lab facilities will be enhanced and training imparted to field workers, paramedics and physicians. IID has already tied up with the Indian Diabetic Research Foundation in Chennai for training physicians. It is planning to train 100 doctors, 240 paramedics, 75 dieticians and health educators by 2009. While the national programme is yet to be formally launched here, already a lot of work has been going on in the field, including re-orientation of training of existing field workers.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Programme for prevention of lifestyle diseases
Fire at hospital
Rain fury continues
Devotees celebrate Easter with special prayer service
Earth caves in at KWA work site
Urban refuse blocks canal
Chandy, Chennithala to visit Delhi
KSEB cautions against accidents during rain
Thiruvananthapuram Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu