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: