Blog

Helping Moms This Mother’s Day

April 21st, 2011

Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and provides members and supporters of organizations such as ours with an opportunity to reflect on the role of mothers in disease prevention. As we’ve… Read More

An Opportunity We Cannot Afford To Miss

April 7th, 2011

CSIS held a blog contest on NCDs asking authors to answer the question “What should the key priority of the upcoming UN High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases be and… Read More

Merck supports Arogya World’s India Schools Program

March 1st, 2011

Arogya World has received funding from Merck for its Diabetes Awareness and Prevention Education program in India’s schools. This support will allow Arogya World to educate 11-14-year-old school children through teacher- and peer-led classroom activities about diabetes and its complications, as well as how this serious disease could be prevented through increased physical activity and healthy eating habits.

The program will be piloted in some of Delhi’s schools through a partnership between Arogya World and youth NGO HRIDAY-SHAN, adapting their successful school-based tobacco control model for diabetes education, using credible authority figures like teachers and peer-leaders to teach the benefits of healthy living to young children before their lifestyle habits are set. According to Arogya World founder Nalini Saligram, “Non-profit organizations like ours cannot do the work we want to do without the support of sponsors and partners. This is important work, at the core of our diabetes prevention offering in India, and we are so pleased we can begin implementation with support from Merck.”

Announcement: Arogya World Launches Behavior Change Task Force

February 23rd, 2011

Behavior change is one of the hardest challenges we face in chronic disease control. Study after study has shown that it is extremely difficult to entice people to increase their physical activity and eat a more healthy diet.

With this knowledge, Arogya World has assembled medical experts, behavior change experts, and consumer experts from around the world to form a new Behavior Change Task Force. Members of the Task Force will donate their time, knowledge and insights to help Arogya World create scientifically sound, practical strategies that will encourage people to make meaningful and lasting lifestyle changes to prevent diabetes. The Task Force will periodically meet to review materials and messages used by Arogya World in India, where the prevalence of chronic disease has skyrocketed.

Quite simply, this Task Force – and the combined knowledge and expertise of its individual members – is a powerful weapon in our arsenal in the global fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

WHO Releases Global Physical Activity Recommendations

February 15th, 2011

Another Important Development in the Fight Against NCDs

Earlier this month, on World Cancer Day (February 4th), the World Health Organization (WHO) issued physical activity guidelines on how regular exercise can contribute to the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). These Global Recommendations on Physical Activity For Health are an exciting development, providing clear, actionable information on the type and amount of physical activity considered most beneficial for the promotion of good health and the prevention of chronic disease. The WHO guidelines add to the world’s preparation for the UN Summit on NCDs to be held on September 19th and 20th, 2011, giving policy makers tools and data they may rely upon as they build national policies, and giving advocacy groups much-needed information that they can use to get more attention to NCD prevention.

According to the report, “physical inactivity is associated with 3.2 million deaths per year, including 2.6 million in low and middle-income countries.”

The report states that, “at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week for people aged 18 and over can reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases, including breast and colon cancers, diabetes and heart disease.”