Building youth health champions in an Indian subpopulation for non-communicable disease prevention

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a leading cause of death in India, creating the need to research strategies for preventing and recognising these diseases. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop and research an interactive health education programme on NCDs in a rural subpopulation of Bengaluru and to build ‘health champions’ among young people to contribute to the prevention of NCDs in India. Design: A descriptive qualitative approach was used to develop and evaluate an interactive educational programme. Students, aged 12–16, from a rural secondary school took part in the study. Method: Participants were separated into five focus groups covering different NCDs including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, otitis media, oral cancer and malnutrition. Each focus group was interviewed face-to-face before, during and after all activities. Content analysis was conducted using a directed approach. Results: Findings were organised into themes that described aspects of learning that enhanced or detracted from student understanding about NCDs. Conclusion: Findings from this study show that creative methods have a positive impact on educating students, aged 12–16, on NCDs.