Health Update: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to inagurate Vibe 4 Wellness campaign on January 1 – What Experts Say

Kerala might be the diabetes capital of the country but more alarming is the increase in the new cases of hypertension identified in the State in the health survey screenings using Shylee app, says Health Minister Veena George.

The Health department’s survey puts the prevalence of hypertension in Kerala at 34% and that of diabetes at 24% among adults above 30 years of age, she added, while addressing mediapersons here on Tuesday.

Data from the India Hypertension Control Initiative, which is being implemented in the State suggests that roughly one-third of the adult population has hypertension.

However, it is possible that this screening data might have underestimated the total prevalence of hypertension in Kerala, for the ICMR-INDIAB study, which was a population-based epidemiological survey done between 2008-2020, had put the hypertension prevalence rate in Kerala at over 44%.

Ms. George said that the annual health survey done through the Shylee app was in its third year and that the consistently high prevalence of risk factors were an indication that the State needed to launch a new campaign that would address all four aspects of healthy living, including good dietary habits, sleep hygiene, physical activity and self care.

The Vibe 4 Wellness campaign will focus on creating awareness amongst people on what constitutes a healthy, balanced diet, the role of physical activity and how good sleep hygiene is important for one’s physical and mental well being. Awareness programmes are being organised targeting school and college students, youth, elderly, food vloggers, fitness clubs, hotels and clubs too.

It will be formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on January 1. The campaign is expected to draw in 10 lakh people into a new routine of healthy diet and physical activity.

She pointed out that the poor quality of diet was evident from the fact that anaemia prevalence was high amongst women in Kerala, regardless of their socio-economic status.

Ms. George said that the Janakeeya Arogya Kendras (JAK) or former subcentres were now emerging as popular community-level healthcare delivery points.

In 2025 alone, 34.8 lakh women had attended the women wellness clinics held there, while 30.5 lakh people had attended the NCD clinics. The JAK health clubs were helping people get into a routine of physical activity also, with 95.76 lakh people participating in various health-related sessions in 2025.

Ms. George said that the year-long community-level cancer-screening programme initiated on February 4 this year had so far screened over 20 lakh people.

Through the programme, 278 new cases of breast cancer and 90 pre-cancerous stage of breast cancer; 84 new cases of cervical cancer and 218 cases of pre-cancerous cervix; 58 new cases of oral cancer and 28 pre-cancerous stage of oral cancers and 12 new colon cancers had been detected. Early detection through screening has given these people a chance of curing their cancer completely through appropriate treatment, she said.