Transforming the Health of India’s Children
Summary
In 2024, Arogya World committed to scale its Healthy Schools Program to reach new schools, communities, and states across India. Arogya pledges to educate 5 million children over the next four years. Alongside the scale-up of this program, Arogya World also committed to launch its new sustainability initiative, Arogya Schools, as part of the Healthy Schools Program. Arogya will designate 400 schools as Arogya Schools. This accreditation and recognition program aims to increase schools’ emphasis on health promotion and their capacity to implement the Healthy Schools Program. Accreditation criteria were developed in close collaboration with implementing partners, primarily NGOs and public health organizations, who have local, frontline workers in schools.
Approach
Arogya World commits to scaling its Healthy Schools Program and to implement the newly launched sustainability initiative, Arogya Schools, across communities in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Punjab States in India. Arogya World aims to leverage this bold, prominent, public-facing commitment to mobilize large, mission-aligned implementation partners to reach a significant number of children in new regions using proven approaches. The Arogya Schools model is the newest addition to the Healthy Schools Program and this critical sustainability effort will be expanded through this commitment. This accreditation and recognition program aims to increase schools’ emphasis on health promotion and their capacity to implement the Healthy Schools Program. Accreditation Criteria were developed in close collaboration with implementation partners, primarily NGOs and public health organizations who have local, on-the-ground frontline workers in schools. These partners have confirmed their belief in the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach.
This Commitment to Action is part of Arogya World’s next phase of scale-up. It will leverage partnerships with new and existing school partners to integrate the Healthy Schools program into existing infrastructure to enable the sustainability and longevity of the model, at scale. In this commitment, Arogya pledges to educate 5,000,000 children across India through the Healthy Schools Program over the next four years and to designate 400 schools as Arogya Schools.
Arogya World is best placed to deliver on this commitment because of its proven ability to deliver the program successfully and its strong partnerships with reputed and experienced partners. Additionally, the organization has a track record for delivering on big, bold commitments, including Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitments, in the past.
Action Plan
2024
Q3-Q4 2024:
Announce the commitment to constituents, mobilize and finalize partnerships with new implementation partners, and train their frontline workers on program implementation. Program implementation for some children will be ongoing even at this early stage with existing partners.
Q4 2024:
Program implementation with all participating partners
2025-2026
Q1-Q3 2025
Ongoing training and foundational work, including government support and approval secured, and identification of target school for the Arogya Schools initiative.
Reach approximately 2 million children
Q3 2025 – Q3 2026
Continued program delivery, reaching 3 million children
100 schools to be identified, scored, and designated as Arogya Schools.
2026 – 2027
Q3 2026 – Q3 2027
Continued program delivery, reaching 4 million children
150 additional schools will be designated as Arogya Schools.
2027 – 2028
Q3 2027 – Q3 2028
Total of 5 million children reached through the Commitment
An additional 150 schools designated as Arogya Schools
All post surveys administered, and data analysis completed conclude with a total of 5 million children reached and an additional 150 schools will be designated as Arogya Schools. All post-surveys will be administered, and data analysis will take place.
Background
The diabetes epidemic is one of the biggest health and development challenges of the century. In addition to the loss of lives and strain on the healthcare system, it exacts a staggering economic toll.
In India, the burden is especially alarming, according to The Lancet:
100+ million Indians have diabetes and 136 million are pre-diabetic,
In metro cities like Chennai, 3/4 of adults are diabetic or pre-diabetic,-Indians get diabetes 10 years earlier than Westerners, often in their 30s, during peak productive years.
Additionally, Arogya World’s 10,000 Women’s Voices study showed that 25% of a poor Indian family’s income is spent on care for one person with diabetes. Diabetes is also ubiquitous: all states, socioeconomic levels, and rural/ urban areas are affected.
According to the World Health Organization, 80% of type 2 diabetes is preventable with three lifestyle changes – eating right, exercising, and avoiding tobacco. Prevention is the smart solution to this crisis. The adolescent period is a critical window to address and stem lifestyle habits that can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Notably,
WHO (The Lancet 2019) showed that 3 out of 4 adolescents get “insufficient physical activity.”
The CNNS National Nutrition Survey (2016-2018) provided evidence that overweight, obesity, and diabetes are increasing among school-age children. 10.4% of adolescents are estimated to be pre-diabetic.
1/3 of teenagers are estimated to have high blood pressure.
In response to the growing challenge, India’s National NCD Monitoring Framework prioritizes school-based programs to integrate healthy habits into routines, mobilizing communities around health. It is critical to intervene before lifestyle habits are set, empowering kids to make exercise and healthy eating part of their everyday lives to delay/prevent diabetes.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
Arogya World is well-positioned to complete the commitment due to the organization and program’s strong foundation. The primary barrier to fulfilling this commitment and scaling the program, in general, is mobilizing partners and funders. Through the recognition and higher profile the program will gain as part of this commitment, including media coverage, Arogya has already begun and believes that it will be able to effectively continue to mobilize large partners around the commitment. Additionally, the organization aims to leverage CGI’s network to meet potential new funders, providing expanded financial resources to support the fulfillment of the commitment., Arogya World’s team has extensive experience and knowledge in program design, project management, and large-scale program implementation. Additionally, since its inception, the organization has worked closely on this and other programs, with experts from institutions including Emory University, Stanford University, and the Public Health Foundation of India, on content development and behavior change underpinnings to program design. Through these partnerships, the organization has gained invaluable knowledge on the topics of diabetes prevention, public health, and behavior change. Additionally, connections with a strong network of implementation partners has enabled effective implementation, and the organization will bring to bear these connections with schools and grassroots organizations as part of the commitment. The Arogya team will share its experience, learnings, best practices, and extensive knowledge gained through partnerships with other organizations as part of the CGI commitment.