One million people opts for mDiabetes

Arogya World and Nokia India have enrolled one million people into mDiabetes, diabetes prevention mHealth initiative in India.

As part of mDiabetes, an ongoing Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) commitment and one of the first and largest programs of its kind in the world, alerts have been sent in 12 regional languages, informing Nokia mobile phone users in India about diabetes and its prevention with lifestyle changes.

It is also estimated that more than 70,000 consumers have completed the six-month program, having received free-of-charge mDiabetes alerts twice a week.

mDiabetes runs on the Nokia Life platform, which delivers life-enhancing information and advice co-developed with more than 90 knowledge partners, and works on a wide range of Nokia mobile phones. The mDiabetes program in India started in January 2012 and people enrolled for this service span residents of rural and urban India.

"mDiabetes is of special significance in India, a country with an enormous diabetes burden. We are encouraged by the positive consumer feedback we have received for our alerts to date. If effective, mDiabetes will add to the evidence base for mHealth and become the cornerstone of a chronic disease prevention model for the developing world. We are pleased with the progress we have made and are well on our way to honoring our CGI Commitment," said Dr Sandhya Ramalingam, head, Program Evaluation, Arogya World.

Commenting on the development, BV Natesh, director - Emerging Market Services at Nokia said, "Nokia Life was designed to address livelihood and life improvement needs of consumers in emerging markets such as India. Since launch, the service has been experienced by more than 50 million people across India. With the rapid growth of mobile penetration, campaigns such as mDiabetes have the potential to reach millions of people, helping build awareness and associated behavior change."

In 2012, Arogya World asked 750 consumers what they thought of individual mDiabetes alerts. The results obtained were promising - 70 percent of the consumers said they remembered receiving the alerts, of which more than 90 percent said the alerts were clear and easy to understand, and importantly, more than 80 percent were willing to share the alerts with friends and family.

To-date, Nokia Life services covering topics such as health, education and agriculture have been experienced by more than 95 million people across India, China, Indonesia and Nigeria.