Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 4: The Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) has launched a special initiative called “Sankalp Sampoorna Swasthya” (SSS) in Jammu and Srinagar.
This program aims to address the growing health issues in children, particularly Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
Pertinently, the recent Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare uncovered alarming statistics about NCDs in children. Shockingly, 1 in 10 school children is pre-diabetic, 1% are diabetic, 5% have high blood pressure, and 7% are at risk of kidney problems. Childhood obesity is also on the rise.
To combat this, the IAP initiated Sankalp Sampoorna Swasthya, a school-based program focused on preventing NCDs. Dr Upendra Kinjawadekar is leading this effort, along with Dr Rekha Harish and Dr Deepak Pande.
The program has already been launched in 24 states across India, with workshops held in Jammu and Srinagar.
In Srinagar, the workshops were held with Director School Education Kashmir Dr Tasaduq Hussain as Chief Guest and Presidents of Government and Private Schools Associations, Mohammad Shafi Rather and GN War as Guests of Honour.
These workshops involved training paediatricians, teachers, and school staff to conduct the SSS program.
Dr Upendra Kinjawadekar and Dr Rekha Harish emphasized the importance of physical activity, healthy eating, reducing pollution, managing screen time, ensuring enough sleep, and avoiding substance abuse during these workshops.
A similar program was also held in ASCOMS Hospital and GMC Jammu. The audience were a mix of nursing students, MBBS students, 7 teachers from Jodhamal Public School and thirty paediatricians from the Jammu region.
Speaking on both the occasions, Dr Upendra informed the audience about the rationale and significance of the workshop and the plan of making it a self-sustainable program by the teachers who are expected to be the torch-bearers. According to him, 10 States/UTs have already accepted to include the program in their curriculum.
Dr Rekha Harish highlighted that the vast number of children going to school cannot be reached solely by paediatricians, so the program is training teachers to reach every school-going child, reaching out to 95 lakh teachers across the country.
“This initiative aims to transform schools into “Health Promoting Schools” and has a ten-point accreditation plan approved by IAP,” she said.
Various educational leaders and health professionals have shown their support for the program, recognizing the importance of such health awareness initiatives for children, she further said.
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