Productivity loss in India from chronic lifestyle diseases projected to be cumulatively 17.9 million years, worth USD 474 billion between 2006-2030.
Mumbai, 20, 2018: HealthMode.Org, a recently set-up Mumbai based preventive healthcare social enterprise, today announced the launch of the ‘Window of Opportunity’ drive. This drive aims to raise public awareness of the risk and prevention of chronic lifestyle diseases in India. The public awareness initiative is also supported with a health coach available on live chat as a free public service. This is hosted on HealthMode.Org’s website to answer any questions or concerns about fitness, wellness or chronic lifestyle disease risk, prevention, care and management.
“Urban lives are compromised today by environmental factors, as well as lifestyle choices. We have low control on our genetic factors and environment. As individuals, we can only intervene by making wise choices in our nutrition, activity levels, stress management, emotional management, sleep and lifestyle habits. We can also address early signs of chronic lifestyle diseases,” said Madhuri Sen, Founder and Lifestyle Coach, HealthMode.Org. “HealthMode.Org’s ‘Window of Opportunity’ program aims to raise public awareness of how the negative impact of chronic lifestyle diseases on quality of life can be easily reduced. That the prevention, early detection, and management of chronic lifestyle diseases stem their natural progression to vascular and organ damage. We call this the ‘Window of Opportunity’. This “window” is open especially for those between the ages of 25-50 years, the age group at highest risk today.”
This initiative is being kicked off with an awareness raising public education program on the physical, emotional and financial risks posed by environmental factors and poor lifestyle choices. This is conducted by Dr.Kirnesh Pandey, a leading obesity, diabetes and thyroid specialist. Dr.Pandey, a leading diabetes, obesity, thyroid specialist and head of department at Bombay Hospital, Indore has the role of medical advisory on the HealthMode.Org board. “Chronic lifestyle diseases are only getting younger! We are increasingly witnessing an earlier than before onset of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, imbalanced lipid levels etc. that further lead to cardiovascular disease, renal failure and other organ damage,” said Dr.Pandey, speaking on the relevance of the “Window of Opportunity’ public awareness drive. “Earlier, these were considered diseases driven primarily by genetic factors that would onset only around middle age. The bad news is that poor nutrition choices, highly stressed, sedentary lifestyles, poor social support, sleep, and environmental factors such as poor quality air and water is leading to these chronic conditions developing as early as in mid-twenties to those pre-disposed by genetic factors. Those not pre-disposed genetically are also now at equal risk due to environmental factors. The good news is that if lifestyle modifications are made at an early stage or diagnosed early and managed well, both groups can avoid life debilitating, often fatal vascular and organ damage.”
The public awareness raising program was flagged off earlier this week on Sunday, 18 March with ‘Fit is Fun’, a treasure hunt in paired teams to promote the fun aspects of staying fit. This treasure hunt across Bandra West, starting Jogger’s Park, Carter Road was well attended by enthusiastic participants from across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
The Individual, Social and National Impact of Chronic Lifestyle Diseases
The India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative report, released in October 2017, reported that the contribution of most major non-communicable disease categories to the total disease burden has increased in all states since 1990. These include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic kidney disease, and cancers among others. The study highlights that risk factors including unhealthy diets, high blood pressure, high fasting plasma glucose, high cholesterol and obesity cause diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases has increased in every state of India. These together now contribute to a quarter of the total disease burden in the country.
A report released by AIIMS in 2012 had found that chronic diseases were estimated to account for 53% of all deaths and 44% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost in 2005. As of 2005, India experienced the “highest loss in potentially productive years of life” worldwide. The four leading chronic diseases in India, as measured by their prevalence, are in descending order: cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer. All four of these diseases are projected to continue to increase in prevalence in the near future. The projected cumulative loss of national income for India due to non-communicable disease mortality for 2006–2015 is expected to be USD237 billion. By 2030, this productivity loss is expected to double to 17.9 million years lost.
About HealthMode.Org
HealthMode.Org was found in January 2018 by Madhuri Sen, a business, marketing and communications industry veteran turned social entrepreneur. HealthMode.Org was set-up to bring balance into urban lives by reducing the risk of chronic lifestyle conditions such as obesity, diabetes, BP, cardiac disease, fatty liver etc. through medical interventions, health coaching for nutrition and exercise and neuroscience based behavioural modification and lifestyle coaching for healthier stress management, emotional management and sleep. HealthMode.Org has various customizable medical scientific methods based weight management, diabetes management, and chronic disease risk assessment telemedicine programs that it runs from its primary center in Mumbai. It also runs various day and weekend fitness and wellness programs from its health farm in Ranvihir, a village in rural Maharashtra.
About Dr.Kirnesh Pandey
Dr.Kirnesh Pandey is the medical advisory on HealthMode.Org’s board. He is one of India’s leading obesity, diabetes and thyroid specialists and head of the diabetes department of Bombay Hospital, Indore. He was a gold medallist in both MBBS and DNB, with a fellowship in Diabetes. Dr.Pandey is an avid speaker across national medical professional and public platforms. He has been a significant contributor to medical education over the last decade.
