Doctor and author Sumeet Dixit speaks about his awareness campaigns against lifestyle diseases

According to recent studies, India has seen an improvement in overall life expectancy at birth to 69 years during 2013-17 from 68.7 during 2012-16, but it also suggests that ‘healthy’ life expectancy has not improved at all. 

Healthy life expectancy takes into account not just mortality but the impact of non-fatal conditions and summarizes years lived with any sort of disability. The increase in healthy life expectancy has not been as dramatic as the growth of life expectancy, implying that people are living more years with illness and disability. Non-communicable diseases and lifestyle diseases like obesity,Type II diabetes, Heart diseases, High blood pressure, cancer etc. are major contributors of ill health among Indians. It has been estimated that approximately 75% of Indians suffer from lifestyle diseases and over 61% of all deaths in India are attributed to lifestyle or non-communicable diseases.

Sadly most of these silent killers are preventable. Furthermore lack of consistent knowledge and public awareness exacerbate the problem. Small measures like leading a healthy lifestyle with plenty of physical exercise, a balanced diet and maintaining good personal /environmental hygiene can reduce the risk of these diseases considerably. 

Dr. Sumeet Dixit an alumnus of SVM, Keshav Nagar, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, has been taught from his school days, the importance of physical activity as a crucial part of leading a healthy lifestyle and is a passionate advocator of the same.

Dr. Dixit is presently working at Dr. RML Institute of Medical Sciences Lucknow as Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Medicine. He is also a Public Health Specialist. He completed his MBBS (2005) and MD Community Medicine (2010) from Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, AMU, Aligarh.

Recognizing the lack of awareness in the field of prevention of lifestyle diseases, Dr. Dixit has made it its life's mission to generate public awareness of the same. He conducts classes as a Guest Lecturer for free and organizes seminars aimed at school children, youth and elderly as a part of his awareness campaigns. During his sessions he mostly lays stress on types and prevention of lifestyle / Non Communicable diseases. 

Dr Sumeet also an advocator of  living a healthy and active lifestyle. In this vein, he has written a book ‘Being Physically Active’ / ‘गतिशील जीवन खुशहाल जीवन’ (Gatisheel jeevan Khushal jeevan) to promote physical activity among general public. The book is written both in English and Hindi, so that the message has a wider audience reach. He also started writing health awareness articles in Hindi magazines about lifestyle disorders and ways to avoid such diseases by changing our lifestyles appropriately. He has been nominated to receive an award for his exceptional work in the field of health awareness by Sarvhit group on 23rd November 2019.

Apart from his awareness generation campaigns, Dr. Dixit has also received letters of appreciation for his work in flood affected areas of Bihar ( 2008) and flash floods damaged areas of Uttrakhand (2013).

Dr. Dixit, hopes that his efforts will motivate people to live healthier and more fulfilling lives.He furthermore credits his school for making him a disciplined individual and for guiding him towards his chosen profession.
 

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