Tech health campaign
By Asha

A project to create awareness about Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among IT professionals was launched on Oct 21 in Hyderabad. Titled Health Awareness Promotion Project India (HAPPI), the voluntary project was launched by Prevent NCD Foundation consisting of eminent cardiologists, entrepreneurs and fitness management experts. The project came into being after these eminent personalities came across vital statistics according to which young, urban professionals have been proven to be highly vulnerable to NCDs. ADP Pvt Ltd will be the first company to implement this project at its Hyderabad campus.

Commenting on the tie-up with HAPPI, Mr. Shakti Sagar, Managing Director, ADP Pvt Ltd said, “As an organization, two areas that we are focused on serving the community, are education and health.  Our interactions with the HAPPI team helped us understand that NCDs are a major cause of poverty and an urgent development issue. Given this scenario, we felt it was the right cause to support HAPPI in their endeavor of creating a Happy India.”

Four of the major NCDs - heart disease, cancer, lung disease and diabetes - are linked by common, preventable risk factors: tobacco use, unhealthy diet, and lack of physical activity. Studies have shown that educating individuals about the benefits of exercise, a healthy diet and stopping use of all types of tobacco contributed significantly to decreasing the risk for NCDs. BRIC countries are estimated to be currently losing 20 million productive life years annually, growing to 65 million by 2030. Productivity losses due to heart diseases are as follows: China (USD 555 Billion), Russia (USD 330 Billion), India (USD 240 Billion) and UK (USD 33 Billion). India stands to lose USD 237 billion over the next 10 years from premature deaths due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
 
Other founders / trustees of Prevent NCD Foundation include Mr. Raghu Bathina, senior director at Citrix Systems and serial entrepreneur, Mr. Pullela Gopichand, former badminton player who was ranked among the top 10 players and Mr. D Suresh Babu, Managing Director of Suresh Productions, one of India’s largest movie production houses. The members associated with the project intend to take the project to interior parts of Andhra Pradesh and also other states of the country gradually over the course of next few years.