HRIDAY (Health Related Information Dissemination
Amongst Youth) and SHAN (Student Health
Action Network) are two components of
a voluntary organization (HRIDAY) and
are engaged in activities aiming to promote
health awareness and informed health activism
among school and college students. HRIDAY
was born in June 1992 as a response to
India's health transition, wherein altered
living habits were leading to rising burden
of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Community mobilization through health
education is a key element of a comprehensive
public health response to this transition.
Youth, in particular, had to be assisted
in learning to live healthy and stay healthy.
HRIDAY targets school students aged (10-13
years) because behaviours get etched during
early school days and can be positively
influenced by providing appropriate information
in an engaging manner. SHAN is a network
of high school students (14-17 years),
which provides a forum for the students
to discuss future policies and programmes
related to various health issues and voice
their demands to the policy makers.
Objectives:
