Thiruvananthapuram: ‘KIRAN’ survey to track eating habits

Thiruvananthapuram: ‘KIRAN’, one of a kind survey, has been launched in the State to find out the food habits of people in the state for enabling the government to come up with effective plans in future to fight non-communicable diseases.The real-time survey using the tablet is being carried out by health workers under the Directorate of Health Services.

Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies (AMCHSS) will be giving all technical support to the Directorate of Health Services for the smooth conduct of KIRAN (Kerala Information Residents Association Network). The survey will be conducted on a random 10 lakh population in the state.

Director of Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies Dr Ramankutty V told DC that the survey has already kicked off and will cover around 2.5 lakh households spreading across all 14 districts in the state. Each home is estimated to have an average of four to five members.

The survey will determine the current incidence and risk factors of chronic health problems besides equipping the policymakers to frame disease control and prevention programmes for future "We are estimating a total of 10 lakh population to take part in the survey which will be focusing on the dietary habits, physical exercise and lifestyle," said Mr Ramankutty.

He said that the survey is inching forward slowly as the health workers have other priorities too. "We are expecting to complete the survey within 2 or three months. We actually planned to launch this survey back in August then the flood happened and we had to delay it," he added.

The authorities are planning to make available the survey analysis for the public.

"We are planning to give access to the survey result for the public especially scholars. We have given training for the workers as the survey being carried out online. We are able to get the real-time survey data online," Mr Ramankutty said.