Arogya World, a USA-based non-profit organisation focusing on healthy living, has announced the launch of a new service that is designed to help raise awareness about diabetes in India. This service makes use of Nokia Life Tools that allows SMS based messages to be delivered directly to subscribers’ mobile phones, creating awareness about diabetes, which is likely to kill a million people this year.
Through this service subscribers are made aware of the ways that diabetes can be prevented. The messages delivered through this service are crafted mainly for people in India, by health experts based in India, the UK and the USA, for both diabetics and non-diabetic patients.
Non diabetics are also included in this because it is believed that diabetes is largely preventable and in 80 per cent of cases it can be completely avoided as well.
Global head of Nokia Life Tools, Jawahar Kanjilal, said: “Mobile phones are ushering in an information revolution in the daily lives of millions, especially in emerging markets. Delivering targeted diabetes prevention messages to a profiled audience using our Nokia Life Tools platform, in a sustained and continuous engagement will, we believe, encourage people to adopt a healthier lifestyle.”
The service will be offered free to the first million users in the sub-continent who have Nokia Life Tools on their phones and subscribe to the Health Channel. No additional download or subscription will be needed to subscribe to this service.
The text advice will be available across India in 12 different local languages between November this year until October 2013 or until one million Indian users have been reached by the service.