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Mumbai: The Tata Memorial Hospital, in collaboration with IIT-Bombay and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), will launch a school health project in city schools. The aim is to educate students on healthy behaviours to reduce the risk factors associated with non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and their onset in later life. The project will be undertaken with the help of the school education department on a pilot basis in 25 schools in South Mumbai and will later be extended to others. The project intends to ‘facilitate long-term behaviour changes among students’ and to ‘provide a blueprint for school health education in the country’. If successful, the programme can ‘contribute to national efforts in preventing lifestyle-related diseases’.Deputy director of school education, Mumbai, Sandeep Sangave, said that the project will be taken up by the hospital, and the department will only facilitate it. The programme intends to create awareness at a young age. “Students often develop unhealthy habits in schools, such as smoking, use of tobacco, and poor dietary choices, which can have long-term negative effects on their health and well-being. The initiative hopes to catch students young and facilitate a change in behaviour. This could help in preventing the risk factors for non-communicable diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The hospital will conduct sessions in schools, and for the pilot project, we have selected around 25 schools in South Mumbai,” said Sangave. It will be extended to other schools once the new session commences in June.The school health education programme proposed by the TMH will address the importance of a balanced diet, physical exercise, and the hazards of tobacco and alcohol, as mentioned in the concept note presented to the Deputy Director’s office. It will include interactive lectures to explain the importance of good nutrition, exercise, and avoiding tobacco and alcohol, short, animated educational videos that will make learning fun and memorable, and printed leaflets with key messages that can be provided as take-home materials. At a later stage, the project will also involve taking feedback on changes in students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours.TMH’s concept note also cites WHO’s report highlighting the rise in cardiovascular diseases and cancers among young adults and that these diseases have their origins in childhood. It is in this context that the hospital intends to launch the project, which will involve assessing students’ baseline knowledge, attitude, and behaviour related to non-communicable diseases.
