The Ministry of Health has initiated steps to launch a comprehensive Rs 1660.50 crore National Programme for Prevention and Control of Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPDCS) during the current 11th Five Year Plan and the pilot programme in this regard is in progress in 10 districts.

The pilot programme is going on in one district each in 10 states. Kamrup of Assam, Jalandhar (Punjab), Bhilwara (Rajasthan), Shimoga (Karnataka), Kancheepuram (Tamil Nadu), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), East Sikkim (Sikkim), and Gandhi Nagar (Gujarat) are the select districts.

Depending on the outcome of the pilot project, the programme will be extended to all over the country and the preparatory activities for the full-fledged scheme have been initiated. The basic formalities have been completed already, sources said.

The government is giving more attention to the programme in view of the growing incidence of these lifestyle diseases in the country. According to a recent study by Xavier et al in the reputed medical journal of `the Lancet', around 60 per cent of world's heart diseases are expected to occur in India by the end of this year. However, there are no official data about the exact number of heart patients and diabetics in the country. According to ICMR, WHO estimates suggest that there were 32 million diabetics in India in 2004 and it is projected that India would have largest number of diabetics (80 million) in the world by 2030.

The NPDCS programme focuses on health promotion for the general population by creating awareness on lifestyle related diseases with focus on adopting healthy life styles apart from disease prevention for the high risk through targeted interventions to reduce mortality and morbidity due to diabetes and other NCDs. Under the programme, sustained IEC/BCC Campaign has been envisaged so that individual, group and community behaviour can be modified to prevent and control the chronic non-communicable diseases like diabetes etc. An amount of Rs.150 crore is earmarked under the programme for IEC/BCC activities.