New Delhi: Fifteen schools in Delhi will be among the first in India to receive information and training on how to educate teachers, students and parents on diabetes using specially designed ‘school diabetes information pack’.
The project titled “Kids and Diabetes in School†(KIDS) is being conducted by the Public Health Foundation of India in collaboration with AIIMS, International Diabetes Federation (IDF), HRIDAY (Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth) and pharmaceutical company Sanofi to foster a environment that creates a better understanding of diabetes and supports children with diabetes.
“We had launched a scheme called Chacha Nehru Sehat Yojna in 2011 to focus on awareness in school children about certain diseases and conduct health check-ups but it focuses mainly on conventional diseases. But, the statistics reveal a steep increase in the number of diabetes patients especially children and adolescents, hence such initiative was the need of the hour,†Anindo Majumdar, Principal Secretary of education, Government of Delhi said at the launch of the information pack.
Fifteen schools including seven private and eight government schools will receive training sessions and information packs on managing diabetes from experts in healthcare, public health and health promotion from State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), PHFI and HRIDAY.
School training sessions will focus on educating teachers and school staff on diabetes, symptoms associated with episodes of high and low blood sugar and how to respond in case of emergency situations. A ‘diabetes in schools’ app available in English and Hindi featuring interactive elements of the pack, will be available later in the year.
“We have done a pre-testing for the information packs in two government schools in Delhi and the feedbacks have been good. Hence, we decided to go ahead with 15 schools as a pilot project which will conclude in December and in the second phase a larger number of schools will be taken up,†Majumdar added.Â