The Apollo SHINE Foundation was established in 2015 to raise awareness about Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and equip the school and college community with the tools to combat this scourge. Since our inception, we’ve identified several issues within educational institutions that we can address:

Many schools and colleges lack proper health rooms. Those that exist often resemble oversized first aid kits, managed by untrained staff. While we may have grown up without health rooms, today’s world with its internet, fast food, rampant alcoholism, accessible junk food, and drugs requires forward-thinking solutions to ensure a healthier future.

Health check-ups, mandated by many educational boards, are a positive step. However, who evaluates their purpose and effectiveness? Millions of students across India participate in these exercises, often supervised by overburdened teachers, leading to a waste of resources and a negative perception of health check-ups. Many schools lack access to qualified doctors and the necessary connections for comprehensive health checks.

Health education is heralded as crucial, alongside fiscal responsibility and other essential life skills. However, effective health education needs a structured syllabus, engaging touchpoints, retention assessments, and a system of rewards. It demands a pedagogical approach similar to teaching math or science. A monotonous speaker, regardless of qualifications, will only disengage students.

Additional initiatives such as safety audits, canteen audits, BLS training for staff, volunteer management, and home awareness campaigns traditionally fall on passionate teachers and school administrators. How can schools or colleges allocate the necessary resources and time to champion health?

The Apollo SHINE Foundation was created to address these needs.

Founded by Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, the visionary behind modern healthcare in India and the Apollo Hospitals Group, the Foundation leverages the extensive resources of Apollo’s 73 Multispeciality Hospitals, 400 clinics, 1100 diagnostic centers, and 5000 pharmacies. This not-for-profit entity is dedicated to the student community with three primary goals:

1. Be there when students need healthcare.
2. Earn their trust.
3. Enlist their support in the battle against NCDs. 

Our mission is to empower students through comprehensive health programs, both on-campus and at home, instilling the importance of health and lifestyle choices from an early age, and fostering a healthier society. Apollo Hospitals has always prioritized the impact of lifestyle choices on public health. Today, through the Apollo SHINE Foundation, we have developed a structured health education program that has facilitated nearly 1.5 million health room visits and screened almost 1.1 million students and teachers.

The pandemic revealed the global inadequacy of medical infrastructure to combat widespread disease. In response, the Apollo SHINE Foundation now collaborates with local hospitals and vetted independent services, utilizing standardized protocols to deliver world-class student health services to hundreds of thousands of students nationwide.

We invite you to join our mission to promote health within the student community and encourage your peers to participate as well. This is our sincere appeal to all of you to help us Keep India Shining!

Every Single Person Behind Apollo SHINE