The Age Of Health Tech Is Need Of The Hour: Healthathon

The Covid 19 crisis brings into sharp focus the vital importance of health in our lives. Indians in general have tended to ignore health as a priority and end up taking care of their health as a serious concern only in times of a medical contingency. The result is the country has some of the lowest expenditure on healthcare and India leads the world in many diseases including diabetes.

The leading global risks for mortality in the world are high blood pressure (responsible for 13% of deaths globally), tobacco use (9%), high blood glucose (6%), physical inactivity (6%), and obesity (5%). These factors raise the risks for chronic diseases. 40% of premature deaths in the USA can be attributed to behavioural patterns. This number is possibly bigger in India and only rising.

The solution to these health challenges lies not only in better curative care but a higher quality of preventive care. In other words a large chunk of diseases and hence premature deaths can be prevented through lifestyle modification and behavioural change i.e. by changing habits. Yet the average person dabbles in piecemeal and unplanned attempts around exercising, fad diets, one off health check-ups and anxiety management techniques.

Such a large scale problem can be solved effectively by the use of technology, best delivered through the ubiquitous Smartphone. This is where tech enabled apps can play a large role in influencing health outcomes for individuals and the society.

‘Happily Health’ from Healthathon Tech Pvt ltd, a Delhi based company aims to be an intelligent platform for building healthy habits that are sustainable. It is a goal-based habit building app that enables users to improve their health holistically by completing recommended mini tasks. The suggestions are in the important areas of Physical Fitness, Nutrition, Mental Well-being, other lifestyle areas, Diagnostics Tests and high quality Health Content.

The company was set up by two experienced professionals with successful track records - Salil Sahu (in Consumer Goods) and Pooja Shivdasani (in advertising and consumer research). On being asked what motivated him to start this, Salil said; “Having been an endurance athlete and a believer in the power of tech to transform everyday health habits, I see this as an opportunity to make a lasting contribution by building a preventive healthcare business that is so relevant for our times.”

Pooja believes her creativity and deep understanding of consumers (with experience in some iconic brands) will offer her the perfect option to build a product that can make a difference to countless lives.