Cigna Foundation under its World of Difference grant has funded $260,000 to Arogya World, a non-profit organisation dedicated to prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through health education and lifestyle changes. With a mobile-phone based health platform, Arogya World which completed its  mDiabetes initiative under mHealth1.0 version, the focus is now on heart and kidney disease awareness and prevention via its mHealth2.0 version.

In India, 50 per cent of fatalities are from chronic diseases with one million succumbing to diabetes annually. This year, the Cigna Foundation launched its World of Difference Grants programme, which offers significant support to organisations working to improve women’s health, children’s wellness, senior care and health equity.

Under our mDiabetes, around 1.5 lakh people were helped and lead healthier lives. The Cigna Foundation’s grant will make possible the next phase of work, mHealth2.0, focussing on heart and kidney disease prevention, Nalini Saligram, Founder, Arogya World told Pharmabiz in an email.

“We were impressed by Arogya World’s past successes and this led us  to support Arogya World in this initiative, recognising that there is a great need for new innovations to combat against chronic diseases in India,” said David Figliuzzi, executive director, Cigna Foundation.

The mDiabetes was designed as a population-level nationwide public health intervention using mobile technology to establish health behaviors known to prevent diabetes. Free text messages were provided to one million consumers from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds twice a week for six months in the country. Between 2012 and 2013, over 56 million mDiabetes text messages were transmitted to the consumers in 12 different languages. Post-programme assessment revealed that consumers’ awareness of diabetes and its complications increased, and promising trends in behaviour change were observed, said the Arogya World founder.

“Now under mHealth 2.0 we will use Cigna Foundation’s grant to create a mobile phone-based heart and kidney disease prevention programme in India. The grant will enable us to develop content, build a mobile app to promote healthy living and measure programme effectiveness, she added.

India's healthcare information technology market is expanding and there is an increasing penetration of mobile phones and smart devices in the country. The usage is rising faster in India than anywhere in the world, with nearly six million mobile users added annually. Mobile technology can play a basic, yet significant role in bringing healthcare to the masses. Therefore, healthcare delivery over the mobile phone seems to be an obvious answer to a lot of these issues, she said.