Diabetes education teaches people with diabetes how to manage their condition and helps those at risk learn prevention strategies. It covers healthy eating, exercise, monitoring blood sugar, medications, and recognizing warning signs, ultimately empowering individuals to take control of their health.
Diabetes education in India represents a critical intervention point with tremendous potential impact. While awareness and early intervention through lifestyle modifications can prevent the development of diabetes in people at high risk and improve glucose control in people with diabetes, most of the population has limited access to knowledge on best practices for prevention, diet management, medication adherence, and complication prevention. The low doctor-to-patient ratio and unavailability of qualified nutritionists and physical activity coaches makes one-on-one education impossible at scale.
While all individuals at risk for diabetes or with diabetes could benefit from health education, those living in rural areas and older adults lag behind. Among those with access to digital sources, most lack customization for India's diverse dietary patterns and cultural contexts. Furthermore, India’s 750 million smartphone users have greatly varying comfort levels with using their phone for education.
In India, diabetes education primarily occurs through brief counselling during hurried doctor visits averaging just 2 minutes, supplemented by printed materials typically available in only a few of India’s 22 official languages. Community health workers (ASHAs) provide some support but often lack diabetes-specific training, while the growing landscape of digital health apps remains fragmented and poorly adapted to India's diverse dietary and cultural contexts.
Diabetes Education in Every Language: Scalable, culturally tailored behavioural and dietary education that reaches diverse populations for prevention and self-management.
Additional Considerations:
Technological solutions that address the need for diabetes prevention and management education are most likely to succeed if they work with varying levels of connectivity, digital literacy, and socioeconomic constraints. For instance, although rapidly improving, reliable internet access remains a concern.
There is also a need for adaptive learning tools that personalize content based on individual health literacy, cultural context, and medical history.
There may be scepticism about digital health information without physician endorsement, especially since educational platforms are not integrated with clinical care.
