To commemorate 35 years of medical excellence and commitment to the delivery of quality healthcare, the National Heart Institute (NHI) will be organising school education programmes in one school in Delhi NCR every week for the next one year, making it a massive effort on raising large-scale preventive health awareness by the Institute. The first event was organised on August 16 at Amity International School, Pushp Vihar and the second was held in Amity International School, Saket on August 17.

The programmes are aimed at raising awareness on the prevention of heart disease in the early years of life, given the unhealthy lifestyle of a majority of the population today, including children. At present, as a part of this programme, students of grades 8 and 10 are being trained on topics such as prevention of lifestyle diseases, personal and menstrual hygiene, and CPR, among many others. Dr (Brig) YK Arora and Dr Shridhar Dwivedi, both senior consultant cardiologists at the National Heart Institute are the experts conducting these interactive sessions.

Speaking on the occasion of the first school education programmeDr O P Yadava, CEO& chief cardiac surgeon, National Heart Institute said, "The precautions to be taken to prevent the onset of heart disease should start right from a young age and not just later on in life. High-stress levels due to work pressure, early smoking, drinking, and unhealthy eating habits are all responsible for the early onset of heart disease. Earlier, heart disease was only prevalent in those above 40 to 50 years of age but today people as young as in their late twenties and early thirties are falling prey to this disease. Children in their school going years are very receptive and vulnerable and therefore, this is the right time and age to educate them on such issues and how to prevent them. The school education programme by the National Heart Institute is the first step towards this."

Congratulating the National Heart Institute on completing 35 years and welcoming this initiative, Ameeta Mohan – principal, Amity International School, Pushp Vihar and Ms Divya Bhatia– principal, Amity International School, Saket in a joint statement said," Health education is an integral part of school curriculum today. It is important to educate children about disease prevention and management early on. With the right kind of education and initiatives like the one taken by the National Heart Institute, it is possible to inculcate the importance of leading a healthy life right from the childhood."

Coronary heart disease is one of the major problems facing Indians today. The prevalence and risk of death due to a heart disease is four times higher in Indians than in people from other parts of the world. Though there exist risk factors in the population of other countries, they have been able to slow this pattern by incorporating lifestyle changes and eating healthy. However, this cannot be said of a developing country like India.

The need of the hour is to educate the youth of our nation and create awareness right from childhood. Precautions, like getting a health checkup after the age of 35, exercising for 20 to 30 minutes every day, and avoiding smoking and other habits that lead to clogging of arteries, can help prevent coronary heart disease across age groups.

National Heart Institute is the research and referral tertiary care heart hospital of the All India Heart Foundation, which acts as a nucleus for diagnosis and treatment of heart ailments and allied diseases.