Project Name: mDiabetes
Organisation: Arogya World
Project Location & Coverage Area: Pan India
Project URL: www.arogyaworld.org
Area of intervention: Health
Sixty-plus million Indians live with diabetes and one million die from it each year. Indians get the disease an average of 10 years earlier than counterparts in the West, often in their 30s and 40s. mDiabetes initiative was launched by Arogya World in partnership with Nokia (now known as Microsoft) across the India in January 2012. mDiabetes was designed as a population-level nationwide public health intervention using mobile technology to establish health behaviour known to prevent diabetes. The objective of the project is to disseminate vital information about Type 2 Diabetes and further educating them about diabetes and its prevention through SMS twice a week, in 12 languages. Arogya World initiated the programme in partnership with Nokia Life to target one million users of Nokia. Arogya partnered with various organizations to play different role in the project. These partners include Nokia Life, Emory University, Johnson & Johnson, Aetna, Biocon and Ipsos.
This platform uses SMS for widely distributing messages to be used for raising awareness and providing training for people with diabetes who have been identified by the National Center for Combating Diabetes, as behaviour change theory, and then, with Ipsos, consumer-tested them in simulated conditions as well as in the real world. Arogya World then refined the messages, adapting them culturally for Indian audiences based on consumer feedback and review by its Behavior Change Task Force. Nokia Life provided the translation and transmission infrastructure, and transmitted more than 56 million mDiabetes text messages to the consumers throughout 2012.
Reach & Road Ahead
mDiabetes program implementation began in January 2012 and all 1 million consumers have been enrolled in the program through 2012. To date 33 million messages have been sent i.e. the program has achieved 33 million consumer-touch points. Some 70,000 consumers have completed the 6 month program.
Arogya World is willing to expand the programme globally in partnership with global health organizations, governments and private sector partners. In order to make the content rich, the organization is also working on video-rich content on diabetes and its complications, including stroke, heart disease, kidney failure etc.