Karun Kaushik: Indian-American teen helping fight pneumonia with a cost-effective AI solution
Compiled by: Team GI Youth
(May 21, 2024) 2020 had just begun and things were getting difficult for California boy Karun Kaushik as a delayed pneumonia treatment due to an inaccurate diagnosis nearly cost him his mother’s life. The harrowing experience put him face-to-face with Covid-19 and the grim reality of pneumonia – a global killer that took the lives of 2.5 million people in the world, out of which 600,000 were children under the age of five. The startling statistics led the Indian American teen to think on his toes as Covid-19 had only exacerbated the situation.
With many relatives in India, he was concerned about the hospitals in India as he knew from visits that they had nowhere near the resources or technology necessary to save lives like his mother’s. As the world went into lockdown and Covid-19 swept across the globe, the 17-year-old spoke with radiologists in India, who confirmed that overwhelming patient volume and impossible working conditions were creating diagnostic bottlenecks, resulting in unnecessary deaths.
That’s when the Indian-American teen decided to focus on developing a solution to remove the ever-building backlogs. He spent months learning Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create X-Check-MD, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software that can diagnose Covid-19 and pneumonia with 99 percent accuracy in under one minute. It won him the Gloria Barron Prize 2022 for Young Heroes.
We’re wowed by 2022 Barron Prize winner Karun, who created AI software that can diagnose Covid-19 and pneumonia with 99% accuracy in under one minute. His tool is part of Democratize Health, the nonprofit he founded to save lives in impoverished regions. Grateful for you, Karun! pic.twitter.com/VFM9ODc7cu
— Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes (@BarronPrize) December 13, 2022
This innovation led to the birth of Democratize Health in March 2020, a non-profit initiative to empower healthcare workers in underprivileged communities with fast, affordable, accurate, and remotely accessible artificial intelligence-based diagnostics solutions. “It’s easy to feel hopeless at times with the issues the world is facing but, in my opinion, hope is our strongest resource and weapon,” Karun said in an interview.
So how does X-Check-MD work? It allows doctors to take a picture of an X-ray with their mobile phone’s camera, upload it to a globally accessible website, and receive a diagnosis within seconds, thus making the process faster, and cheaper than traditional methods where the typical turn-around time for diagnosis is 4-18 hours by radiologists. The 99 percent accuracy reduces the chances of misdiagnoses due to human errors such as visual and cognitive fatigue under overwhelm. It also eliminates the diagnostic backlog which is common in developing countries while helping reduce delays in treatment.
Karun Kaushik is the founder of Democratize Health
Democratize Health also educates impoverished communities about environmental risk factors, preventative measures like vaccines (as 71 million children didn’t get the full pneumococcal vaccine in 2018), and available treatment options. So far, it has impacted more than 3,000 people in India, and the non-profit believes that it has the potential to save the lives of 800,000 children worldwide who die from pneumonia each year.
Since this Global Indian provides the technology to doctors and hospitals for $2.75 per scan in India, he is hopeful it can help prevent deaths from pneumonia, 90 percent of which occur in the world’s poorest regions. Currently, he is working to expand global outreach for Democratize Health and build diagnostic solutions for more diseases. Karun, who was selected as a 2021 Global Teen Leader by the We Are Family Foundation, wants to ensure that no one’s health is left behind, regardless of their geography or socioeconomic status. “I want to drive change to make a better world.”
(February 10, 2023) "One idea can change your life." This holds true for Florida girl Ishika Nag who at the age of eight built an elevator to transport her books up to her bunk bed, so she wouldn’t need to go and grab them herself. This was her first foray into engineering, an interest that soon turned into a passion. Despite her curiosity for science as a little kid, she never imagined herself being an engineer until she joined the science and engineering club SECME, with the Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering, in the seventh grade which changed everything for her. "I absolutely fell in love with engineering and what I could do with just my hands and with my imagination, how I could put that to use and build new things,” the young scientist told EiE. And now years later, the 17-year-old is one of the finalists at the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023, a prestigious science and maths competition for high school seniors in the US, for developing an engineered face mask with optimised nanoparticle layering for filtration of air pollutants and viral pathogens. The idea struck her after one of her friends moved to Delhi, and
The idea struck her after one of her friends moved to Delhi, and saw the kind of impact it had on her life due to the change in air quality. But it was the global pandemic that convinced the Oviedo High School student to create a low-cost, high-quality filtration device that could protect people from airborne viruses as well as pollution. She began by improving the efficiency and affordability of air filtration devices, like both masks and HVAC filters, by coating them with nanoparticles. Her research showed that this coating improved a mask’s air pollution and virus filtration efficiency while ensuring its safety for human use.
The innovation has catapulted her to be a part of a pool of 40 young scientists from the US who are focused on a wide range of topics from the space race, and AIDS epidemic to climate change. But the seeds of innovation and engineering started germinating at a young age for this Indian American, who began with small engineering projects like creating a pair of tissue paper shoes. Her tryst with SECME turned out to be a game-changer for the teenager who then worked with an all-female team on a car powered by a mousetrap that eventually won them a junior national competition. "I was just so proud of us. So that's the real-time when it kind of clicked that I wanted to do this for a career," she added.
During her SECME classes, the Global Indian began helping and mentoring fellow students who wished to pursue engineering careers but were not as exposed to the fundamentals of science and engineering. This led her to start the Boys and Girls Club, a weekly engineering club for younger students - just three weeks before the pandemic. "I realised that I wanted to help out other kids, too. Maybe some underprivileged kids who didn't often have the chance to experience the same things I did,” she said, adding, “And I was going there every week for around three weeks, and I was having a great time. But then the coronavirus pandemic happened, and I couldn't go there anymore. So I started to wonder how I could adapt this project to something that would be more virtual."
Meanwhile, she was selected by the National Academy of Engineers as an EngineerGirl Ambassador — one of 23 in the nation and the only representative from Florida, and she used the opportunity to reach out to other kids who are passionate about STEM through a virtual camp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5PhH1BZA6c&t=34s
During the process, she noticed that often she was the only girl leader in her community, and was keen to inspire other girls to learn about engineering. This led to her starting her camp Gear Up. "Initially, I was a little unsure about what response I would get from the kids, because, you know, it was my first time doing this and I had never really done something of this scale before," she said. However, after getting nods of approval from many girls, she was happy to take the leap of faith, and help inspire more girls toward STEM education. " I hope to stimulate their bright minds with creative engineering challenges. In addition, they would also learn teamwork, effective time management, and communication skills. By exposing them to the field of science and careers in engineering, I hope to see more girls in the field of engineering, especially ones from underprivileged backgrounds."
(April 14, 2024) In March 2024, Sheherazaad entered America's indie music scene as a leading voice for immigrants. Her mini album, Qasr, released under the label Erased Tapes, has been produced by Grammy winner Arooj Aftab, and contains poetic lyrics about marginalised genders and imagined homelands, with folk-pop synthesis and lively instrumentation. Speaking to Global Indian from San Francisco, where she is based, Sheherazaad describes her tryst with music as one that found its roots in a “fanatically art-centred, immigrant household” (more on that later). She is an Indo-American artist who is working on de-colonizing music and making a compelling case for the South Asian diaspora through her melodious vocals. Her debut record, Qasr, has been produced by Grammy Award winner Arooj Aftab, and released by Erased Tapes, a London-based independent label for experimental, electronic music. Music matters A “fairly introverted and very spiritual person”, Sheherazaad grew up in a very musical household and she was always immersed in the art form. “My parents are musicians and have a band that still gigs and my sister was a Kathak dancer. My grandmother was a concert producer, so there was music ever present – both playing but also acoustically. My mom
ehold and she was always immersed in the art form. “My parents are musicians and have a band that still gigs and my sister was a Kathak dancer. My grandmother was a concert producer, so there was music ever present – both playing but also acoustically. My mom would be doing her riyaaz or my dad would be playing keys or my sister would be like, tapping and doing her Kathak footwork on the hardwood floor, so I was always immersed in music,” she tells Global Indian.
Thanks to her South Asian lineage, Sheherazaad grew up listening to Lata Mangeshkar and RD Burman. She began training in Western styles, though, starting with a formal voice education in jazz and the American Songbook when she was just six years old. After years of singing Western repertoire, she stopped singing losing interest in the English language. However, in New York, she began following the likes of the Swet Shop Boys and met experimental Pakistani artist Arooj Aftab. She then relocated to California and trained under Hindustani classical vocalist Madhuvanti Bhide. Naturally the synergy she found in her family’s love for music, helped her charter her own path without any resistance that is typically associated with youngsters pursuing music as a career.
Collaborating with Arooj Aftab
In March 2024 she released her mini album ‘Qasr’ produced by Grammy winner Arooj Aftab where her poetic lyrics about marginalised genders and imagined homelands are given a boost with lively instrumentation. The album showcases contemporary folk-pop synthesis with five tracks and has been released by London-based independent record label Erased Tapes. “With Arooj, there was a shared acknowledgement, understanding, energetic impulse towards similar things and so much flow and ease with no need to second guess or overthink that it made it very easy,” Sheherazaad says, adding, “She also played some instruments on the album as well. She has been a mentor in terms of how to move the work through the world and she has been a role model.”
For Sheherazaad, the process of creating music is as much about silence as it is about soundscapes. “I work in a lot of silence. I try not to listen to any music frivolously. I derive from nature entirely and necessarily and I study languages. I talk to native speakers, study poetry and watch stuff by myriad speakers to understand the stylistic ways of speaking,” she explains. The process involves a lot of study and the inclusion of several elements that aren’t necessarily intended to go together. “There is a lot of inner work involved in terms of coming to peace with reconciling or not being able to reconcile certain moving parts musically, and also in life,” she says. “That tension and those questions are funnelled into the music.” She also says that she does not really choose one way to describe how her music is, especially to make it conform to a specific genre. “I sometimes feel we need to but I don't have an answer.”
Crossing Obstacles
The challenges, Sheherazaad admits, lie in deciding where to share and perform the music, and locating audiences is always tough. “Sometimes when you create things that don't have a neat and tidy sort of industrial line and process of how to move it through into the world, you are left with facing this big unchartered ocean of possibility,” she explains. To her, the key is to see this is as possibility and abundance, rather than a lack thereof.
[caption id="attachment_37152" align="aligncenter" width="546"] Photo by Zayira Ray[/caption]
Another challenge is finding a classical or traditional sort of custodian of the more classical or traditional forms or a teacher, who would be able to sit with all of what I felt like at the time were the broken parts that needed so much direction.” In her free time, she likes to sit in silence, in nature, in the forest, near a body of water and likes reading a lot of South Asian diasporic literature. Her future plans are to keep building live sets that continuously reimagine the music in various instrumentation sort of formats. “And I am currently at work on my most ambitious and next project,” she signs off.
(January 23, 2024) Soon after graduating from high school, best friends Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi did what Asian immigrants in the US rarely do. They took a gap year. They travelled together to all 50 states of the US, in the hope of educating themselves about race, privilege and oppression. Over 250 days, they interviewed hundreds of people - "The youngest was a toddler, whose role model is Beyoncé, and the oldest is a Japanese immigrant, whose role model is also Beyoncé," they smile, at a TED talk in 2018. Vulchi and Guo are the founders of CHOOSE and back in 2017, developed a textbook, "The Classroom Index," working in collaboration with the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University, from where Vulchi also graduated in 2022. Growing up, both Guo and Vulchi had experienced racism and heard stories about it. "At the time, we were like, yes, we get it. Racism, we know." But they didn't know, they admit later. "If you don't go searching for an education on racial literacy, you won't get it," Vulchi remarks. Their understanding, they realised, had always been superficial, because of an inability to truly understand each other's experiences. So, in
experiences. So, in 2014, the Global Indian co-founded CHOOSE, now a registered non-profit, because "we weren't talking about race," they write on the website. "At the same time, we realised that every part of our daily lives - from our neighbourhoods to our friend groups - were shaped by racial division."
[caption id="attachment_35391" align="aligncenter" width="646"] TED Residents Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo speak at TED Photo: Ryan Lash / TED[/caption]
Writing a textbook
They started out by simply listening to people's stories and sharing them on the website. One year later, they compiled the stories; along with "statistics and systematic context," in a 'textbook-toolkit' they called The Classroom Index. "We called our model a bridge for the heart-mind gap," they said. The idea was to encourage people to actually have those discussions, and to get to know each other "at a soul-level," as they put it, rather than just at "an ego level." Besides, they believe, society must invest in an education that “values stories and statistics, the people and the numbers, the interpersonal and the systemic, there will always be a piece missing." Vulchi and Guo were also attempting to create a racial and intersectional literacy curriculum that could be used in schools. "That way, young people like us can grow up not only proud of their backgrounds, but caring about the communities we share. We imagine racial literacy as a 21st century life skill."
The textbook brought Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo so much attention that they landed a book deal with Penguin Random House. That inspired their journey across the US, which they funded on their own through textbook sales, cold-emailing corporates like Airbnb and Greyhound and GoFundMe. Tell Me Who You Are, Priya says, "is not a comprehensive overview of race in America in an academic sense, but our personal journey (and) what it was like meeting these people, purely listening to their stories and capturing them in the pages." They were 17 years old and travelling alone, couch surfing their way across the US. "Our goal was to interview hundreds of people about how race, culture and other parts of their identity have impacted their lives," the duo explains. "People cried, we cried, then we missed our parents and we cried some more," they laugh.
On the road in America
The journey was complex in many ways, from actually planning the trip, to finding themselves in dire situations, like when, in Montana, they were "too scared to interview downtown" because they had heard of white supremacists being around. There was also the emotional toll of hearing so many difficult stories, some of which were truly heartbreaking, like meeting a woman whose daughter had been killed in the Charlottesville protest. Then, in Kansas, they interviewed a man who had been "shot and told 'go back to your own country'." Their biggest challenge, however, was learning to deal with each other.
"Can you imagine living and travelling with a high school friend for 250 days," Guo said, in a talk. They argued a lot, over little things like personal space, or fighting over ointment when they ended up at a place with bedbugs. They realised that despite being best friends, they didn't fully understand each other all the time. In fact, they admitted, as they sat on sidewalks, in coffee shops and in people's homes, they felt close to the strangers they met more than they did to each other.
Discovering themselves - and each other
So, the two friends went back to the beginning, talking about their childhoods, the love they held for their parents but also the "painful cultural disconnect." Vulchi often wondered why her parents never said "I love you," like her friends' folks did, and Guo took a long time to accept that while the cool girls hung out at the country club, she had to spend 10 hours a day learning Mandarin. "We talked about the disgust and suspicion we felt at being fetishised as cute Asian girls, and being seen as naive and weak," Vulchi recalls. They were often lumped together as Asian Americans, when the Chinese American and the Indian American are so different in reality.
[caption id="attachment_35393" align="aligncenter" width="529"]Tell Me Who you Are, by Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo[/caption]
"Only now I was able to validate Priya's experience as the darkest skinned girl in her family," Guo said. "I shouldn't have invalidated this country's long history with Chinese Americans, nor should I have tolerated people telling my friend to edit photos to make her eyes bigger, or her body thinner," Vulchi chimed in. And these are the conversations they want to see happening. "Not the ego conversations like, who you're dating or where you went on vacation, but conversations that happen at the soul-level."
Learn more about Priya Vulchi on the CHOOSE website.
(October 10, 2023) As the teams across the globe are battling out for the Cricket World Cup in 2023, the New Zealand cricket team has come to the field with the country's most promising allrounder - Rachin Ravindra. One of the fast-rising cricketers in the New Zealand set-up, the batsman and left-arm spinner, the cricketer recently turned heads with a courageous century to help New Zealand beat England in the opening match of ODI World Cup 2023, making him the youngest centurion in World Cup history for the country. His pivotal performance with the ball, including the dismissal of Harry Brook, significantly contributed to New Zealand's effective containment of England. At 16, Rachin - who was named after two cricketing legends ('Ra' from Rahul and 'chin' from Sachin) - was the youngest New Zealander to feature in the 2016 World Cup in Bangladesh, where he impressed everyone with his extraordinary talent. "Since I was a kid, I have been a batsman," the Global Indian said in an interview, "However, with time my bowling has improved and I am now an all-rounder for my team. All my efforts during this World Cup will be to ensure that New Zealand takes the
kid, I have been a batsman," the Global Indian said in an interview, "However, with time my bowling has improved and I am now an all-rounder for my team. All my efforts during this World Cup will be to ensure that New Zealand takes the cup home."
Living his father's dream
About three decades back, Rachin's father, Ravi Krishnamurthy played club-level cricket in his hometown Bangalore, with the likes of Javagal Srinath and J Arunkumar. And after shifting to Wellington in New Zealand, Krishnamurthy passed on his passion for cricket to his son. Speaking about Rachin in a recent interview, he said, "I tried to get my daughter into cricket and she didn't. With Rachin, I didn't try, and he did."
Interestingly, Javagal Srinath, whom Rachin affectionately refers to as 'Sri uncle', has had a deep impact on the allrounder. "He is a good friend of my father and would visit us every time he was in New Zealand on match referee duty. We also got to meet him whenever we were in Bengaluru. He's my gym buddy, but I can't lift the kind of weights he does," shared the cricketer, adding, "He is always happy to chat cricket with me whenever he's here. He's been very kind to spend time with me and talk about experiences that shaped him in his cricket career. How India's outlook is towards cricket, cricketers, and stuff like that. I've been fortunate to have been able to spend time with some former cricketers."
Krishnamurthy, who is also Rachin's coach, noticed that the allrounder loved cricket from a very young age. Even when he was just five years old, he would play with his cricket bat and practice hitting plastic balls in their backyard. As he grew up, he continued to play cricket in school and district matches, and he became known for his graceful and difficult-to-dismiss batting skills.
[caption id="attachment_33467" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Rachin with his family[/caption]
But playing well came with its price. The young allrounder had to balance cricket as well as his studies growing up, especially after he started playing for his national team, and would have to accompany them to international tournaments. "While I was pretty serious about cricket, I wanted to always go ahead with a backup plan. My father was a software engineer, and he instilled the value of a good education in me at a very early age. I want to either do law or computer engineering. And to be honest, I have had no problems balancing cricket and studies. My parents have always encouraged me to do what I want. It's just coincidence that my passion coincides with my dad's passion," the allrounder says.
On the strike
After a terrific performance at the 2016 and 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, as part of the Kiwi squad, the allrounder made his first-class debut for the New Zealand A team against Pakistan in 2018. With his roots in India, it was a good match for the allrounder to start his Test cricket career here two years ago. Now, he's about to make his first appearance in the World Cup in the same country.
[caption id="attachment_33466" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Rachin poses with Sir Richard Hadlee after winning New Zealand's Young Cricketer of the Year award[/caption]
"Looking back on my Test debut, it was a special and emotional time. Being able to play in India, the fanfare around the game here, to be able to experience that is pretty special," the allrounder said. Talking about being a part of the 2023 NZ squad, Rachin added, "It has been a great ride. You always think one day you might get a chance. Being a 19-year-old at that time, a few years into professional cricket, you have those dreams to be part of a World Cup. It is pretty cool how it has come to fruition. My only aim now is to be at the top of my game and take the cup home."
(July 23, 2023) When the wheels of the world came to a screeching halt in 2020, people saw themselves adapt to changes that the pandemic brought with itself. Amid the uncertainty and fear, a family in Bengaluru found that their 9-year-old son Surya has Type 1 diabetes. The news left his 12-year-old sister Divaa Uthkarsha shell shocked. "I had no idea what Type 1 diabetes was. My first reaction was he is just a child, how can he get Type 1 diabetes? I was shocked at my brother's diagnosis and my lack of awareness on the chronic condition," Divaa tells Global Indian. It was this knowledge deficit that prompted her to start Project Surya in 2021 to help create awareness and provide assistance to underprivileged children living with Type 1 diabetes. The initiative won her the Diana Award 2023. "It was a moment of pride because I have been putting my heart and soul into Project Surya. It is an inspiration and motivation to work harder and help more people and save more lives," adds the 15-year-old. [caption id="attachment_32064" align="aligncenter" width="726"] Divaa Uthkarsha is the founder of Project Surya[/caption] When life turned upside down In 2020, Divaa's life took a
wp-image-32064" src="https://www.globalindian.com/youth//wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG_1465.jpg" alt="Divaa Uthkarsha | Global Indian " width="726" height="662" /> Divaa Uthkarsha is the founder of Project Surya[/caption]
When life turned upside down
In 2020, Divaa's life took a significant turn when her younger brother was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a condition where the body stops producing insulin. Fortunately, their doctor parents provided valuable support, guiding her to comprehend the complexities of the illness. The family as a collective took time to adjust to the new reality. "Eventually within a few months, he became independent and could manage himself," adds the teenager who accompanied her brother on all doctor visits. "I would ask them all sorts of questions and read the manuals and diet chart in detail to understand the subject. Previously, I thought diabetes only affected adults." Together, the family embarked on a journey of lifestyle changes, altering their diets and habits to accommodate Surya's needs. "It isn't just a lifestyle change but also takes a toll on mental health."
Having witnessed the challenges firsthand, Divaa gained a profound insight into the resources required and the considerable expenses associated with managing Type 1 diabetes. less privileged children lacking access to essential resources, knowledge, and proper healthcare facilities. This prompted her to contemplate the plight of the less privileged kids lacking access to essential resources, knowledge, and proper healthcare facilities. Motivated by her experiences, she founded Project Surya in June 2021, aiming to improve the quality of life for underprivileged Type 1 diabetic children residing in Karnataka.
The beginning of Project Surya
Upon joining the Future Leaders Program by 1M1B, which aims to cultivate one million young leaders impacting one billion people, Divaa embarked on her journey of conceptualising Project Surya. "After identifying our problem statement and target audience, we started working on our plan of action. We came up with solutions that were very effective, sustainable, and impacted Type 1 diabetic children in a significant way," adds the National Public School student.
Her journey in developing Project Surya involved a meticulous process of gathering insights through 30 interviews with key stakeholders, such as doctors, dieticians, and Type 1 diabetic children, alongside conducting over 500 surveys involving teenagers and ASHA workers. "It was through Samatvam Endocrinology For Science and Welfare Trust that we conducted online sessions, awareness workshops, Q & A sessions, and interactive counselling sessions with the help of an endocrinologist and raised awareness about Type 1 diabetes in a concise and scientific manner, covering essential aspects such as dietary considerations, the importance of exercise, and adjustments to insulin dosage when eating outside." Divaa discovered that many teenagers and ASHA workers lacked awareness and had misconceptions, often confusing Type 1 diabetes with general diabetes affecting older individuals." However, the sessions conducted by Project Surya helped dispel myths and equip them with the knowledge to manage diabetes effectively."
Crowdfunding and Samatvam - the helplines
Project Surya has adopted crowdfunding as its approach, successfully raising ₹1,50,000 till now. "Additionally, we are receiving $5000 from a corporate based in the US. We are also in talks with corporates for grants and CSR funding," reveals the teenager. The initiative aims to support underprivileged children with Type 1 diabetes by donating both funds and insulin syringes to Samatvam, who then distributes them.
Despite government healthcare facilities not providing free insulin, Divaa, and her team stepped in to offer low-cost insulins to these children through Samatavam. Their goal is to raise more funds to provide insulin pens, a less painful alternative to syringes, further enhancing the quality of life for these young patients.
Despite being passionate about Project Surya, many questioned her credibility initially owing to her age. "The major stakeholders that I pitched my project to initially didn't believe me. As I was only 13, many thought that this was some school project that I would get over within a few weeks. But I had to convince them how passionate I am about the cause." Fundraising, too, posed difficulties as the appreciation for the project did not always translate into donations. "Initially not many people showed up at fundraising events but then we were successful when almost 8000 people were in attendance. Right now, we are looking at accelerating the funding of the project."
Throughout the two-year journey of Project Surya, Divaa has experienced both successes and setbacks, but she has come to realise the impact that even a small step can have on someone's life. A passionate individual who enjoys playing basketball and engaging in debates, she firmly believes in seizing every opportunity that comes her way.
The impact
With the vision of making a significant impact, Project Surya took a deliberate approach, focusing on one-on-one interactions and targeting a smaller support group of 100 diabetic families over the last two years. "Directly, we have impacted 150 children and indirectly, we have impacted so many people as these children educated other children and families, thus creating a ripple effect," adds Divaa. To raise awareness about Type 1 diabetes among the masses, the initiative organized rallies, school sessions, and engaged with ASHA workers. The result was far-reaching, impacting over 2000 students through sessions held in seven schools, and creating a Domino effect of awareness as volunteers initiated drives in their schools and ASHA workers spread the word in their community. Passionate about the cause, Divaa has actively advocated for insulin tax bans and the inclusion of Type 1 diabetes in the Disabilities Act, furthering her commitment to creating a positive change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faokCq8SsMM&t=2s
Looking towards greater sustainability, Divaa envisions implementing an "adopt a child" plan as a funding option for Project Surya, where individuals can commit to supporting a child's insulin needs for a specified period, ranging from 5 to 10 years or until the child reaches adulthood. Alongside, she plans to secure additional funds from corporates and continue fundraising efforts. "We want to provide insulin pens and more effective diabetes management resources to these kids because the resources they currently have are limited and painful."
With 95,600 cases of Type 1 diabetes affecting children under 14 years of age in India, Project Surya is determined to make a positive impact on these young lives. "From creating awareness where people under what Type 1 diabetes is, its symptoms, and the lifestyle changes they can make to keep it under check, we also focus on the mental health aspect where we talk about the stigma surrounding diabetes. The right approach and information can go a long way. And that's what we are doing," she signs off.