It is heartening that the Indian Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, has initiated a school-based screening program for diabetes on pilot basis in six districts, namely, Nainital (Uttarakhand), Theni (Tamil Nadu), Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), Dibrugarh (Assam), Bhilwara (Rajasthan), Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh) and the government has already released fund for this purpose to each district.
The screening is primarily focused on school children of 1st
to 10th standards in the age group of 5 to 15 years. The screening programme is
in progress.
This School Health Programme (SHP) is being carried out under the National Rural Health Mission
(NRHM) as the public sector programme specifically focused on school going
children and adolescents enrolled in Government and
Government aided schools.
The SHP has been launched to address the health needs of school going children. The Program at the National level has been developed to provide uniformity / guidance in implementation of operational framework for initiatives taken in this area by states. The National School Health Programme (NSHP) includes biannual health service provision through screening, health care and referral for disease, deficiency and disability.
The main focus of NSHP is to address the health needs of children, both physical
and mental, and in addition, it provides for nutrition interventions, physical
activities and counselling. Identified children, who require further service
support, are connected with secondary and tertiary facilities within Public
Health Infrastructure. Weekly supervised provisions of Iron-Folic acid tablets
and biannual deworming is included.
Several studies have contributed to overwhelming evidence that indicates the increase in type 2 diabetes amongst children and adolescents. Major risk factors of diabetes are un-healthy diet, obesity and lack of physical exercise.
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