The Disease Management Association of India (DMAI) has demanded to the Union ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD), to include personal health and hygiene as an essential part of school curriculum to improve child health in the country. DMAI believes that this will help in creating awareness among the younger generation about proper healthcare and will simultaneously help in addressing the challenges as well.

In a letter addressed to HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, DMAI suggested that the ministry of HRD must start initiating process that makes it mandatory to start imparting education on oral health and hygiene from class two onwards in pictorial format. It also states that there should be a separate subject on personal health and hygiene from class four onwards.

According to Rajendra Pratap Gupta, president and director, DMAI, “We want child health to become the focus area of our policy makers, so that our demographic dividend does not become demographic disaster.  This calls for putting child health at the forefront of the health agenda. The starting point for the same should start with sensitisation of the students about healthcare.”

During 2009, DMAI conducted  the Health Risk Assessment Index (HRAI) in which they found out that obesity amongst children was alarmingly high, and so was hypertension, which stood     at 7 per cent amongst students.

Advocating the cause, Gupta stressed that this calls for urgent attention from the government and that they should take steps to create awareness to control it at the earliest. “This can be attained only with the co operation of the government, so they must take some proactive steps to implement this from the grass root level which would be the schools as it provides the best way to sensitise the future generation of the county,” adds Gupta.

Gupta expressed that he is sure that with this major step, India would be able to successfully reduce the burden of healthcare over the next 10 years which will have a lasting impact on younger generation. He added that it will also enable the children to make healthier choices in daily life and reducing the burden of diseases.

In the past three years, DMAI has worked at both, International level and within India, to address the issue of India’s healthcare challenges, with the support of patient groups, industry and  policy makers.