ETV Bharat Has Launched A Nationwide Campaign On Diabetes, Featuring Leading Doctors, Data Stories And Real-Life Journeys, Here's What To Expect
ETV Bharat's national editorial campaign begins today. It is mapping and decoding India's fastest-growing health crisis: diabetes.
Published : April 20, 2026 at 8:59 AM IST
India today sits at the centre of one of the most consequential public health shifts of the 21st century. Over 100 million people live with diabetes. Millions more carry the early markers of the disease without even knowing it. That is where the story of ETV Bharat’s national diabetes campaign begins, because the most powerful health revolutions rarely begin in labs. They begin with awareness.
Imagine a disease that affects both a tech executive in Bengaluru and a farmer in Odisha. One whose roots may lie in sedentary lifestyles, but also in poverty, malnutrition, genetics, stress, and even inherited metabolic changes from previous generations. Diabetes is no longer just a disease of urban excess. Across India, its geography is changing.
In Mumbai, doctors speak of relentless commuting, fast food, and corporate stress pushing glucose levels higher year after year. In Punjab and Haryana, questions are being asked about whether rich, celebratory cuisines (full of butter, cream, and refined wheat) have altered metabolic health. In Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, the stories revolve around rice and potatoes, staples that once fuelled agricultural labour but now intersect with reduced physical activity. In the tribal districts of Odisha, diabetes was once considered rare. Now cases are rising, driven by dietary changes and declining traditional food systems. Meanwhile, West Bengal is not only a rice-loving culture but also thrives on milky sweets. In the mountains of Himachal Pradesh (where people walk kilometres daily), doctors are puzzled by a rise in diabetes despite apparently active lifestyles. The disease is a master of adaptation, and this campaign sets out to explore those adaptations state by state, story by story.
Vision And Mission
The campaign’s vision is to empower citizens with credible knowledge, early awareness, and practical solutions to prevent and manage diabetes. Its mission is equally ambitious: to transform public understanding of the disease from fear and misinformation to informed action. That transformation will happen through expert interviews, data-driven reports, educational videos, and real-life stories from across the country. In other words, the campaign is attempting to build a roadmap of India’s diabetes crisis.
Expert Voices
ETV Bharat understands that the only way to understand a national health crisis is to listen carefully to the people who have been observing it, patient by patient, for years. So, one of the most striking elements of our campaign is the range of medical voices that appear throughout it. These are physicians who have spent decades observing patterns in waiting rooms, in laboratory reports, and in the lived experiences of patients across India.
Dr. V. Mohan is widely regarded as one of the country’s foremost diabetologists. For decades, he has studied why Indians appear biologically more vulnerable to diabetes than many other populations. His work frames one of the campaign’s central questions—why does diabetes behave differently in India? Another voice in the campaign comes from Dr. Sanjay Reddy from Fortis, Program Chair of DiabetesIndia 2026. Reddy brings the perspective of a clinician who deals daily with patients navigating the complicated realities of long-term diabetes management.
The campaign also explores the connection between metabolic health and the digestive system through Dr. Rakesh Kalapala of AIG Hospitals. Kalapala’s work sits at an intriguing crossroads between gastroenterology and metabolic disease, examining how gut health, obesity, and conditions such as GERD intersect with diabetes risk. One of the most serious complications is diabetic retinopathy, which damages the small blood vessels in the retina and can lead to vision loss if untreated. This aspect of the disease is explored by ophthalmologist Dr. Chaitra Jayadev.
Regional expertise adds another layer to the conversation. In Gujarat, Dr. Bhagirath Solanki draws on nearly three decades of clinical experience to debunk common myths surrounding diabetes. Dr. Rajesh Parikh, who runs Diabecity in Rajasthan, discusses the rising incidence of diabetes in the state. Children and teenagers are increasingly being diagnosed with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Experts such as Dr. Arun Kedia from Raipur explore the reasons behind this shift. Together, these specialists form something like an intellectual map of India’s diabetes landscape. Each doctor sees the disease through a slightly different lens: genetics, nutrition, endocrinology, gastroenterology, or public health.
The Question Everyone Wants Answered
Every health crisis has a central myth that captures public imagination. For diabetes in India, that myth is simple: Can it be reversed? Across the country, clinics, wellness programs, and digital platforms promise “diabetes reversal.” Advertisements imply that the disease can disappear with the right diet plan, exercise routine, or metabolic reset. But medical science tells a more nuanced story.
Some patients with Type 2 diabetes can achieve remission, meaning blood sugar levels return to normal without medication for a period of time. Yet remission is not the same as a cure. The underlying metabolic vulnerability remains. If lifestyle changes slip, the disease can return. The campaign begins by unpacking this complicated truth, interviewing leading diabetologists and endocrinologists to examine whether “reversal” is a breakthrough… or a clever rebranding of long-term disease management. The answer may surprise readers.
A Nation of Micro-Stories
One of the most fascinating aspects of diabetes in India is that it does not follow a single narrative. Instead, it behaves like a mosaic of micro-stories. Take Rajasthan, where a detailed data analysis will explore how diabetes varies by age group and geography. Or Delhi, where rising case numbers tell the story of an urban lifestyle caught between convenience and metabolic cost. Then there are the human stories that illuminate the science. There is Pallavi Upadhyay, the “millet queen” from South Delhi who replaced wheat and rice with millets, and saw her HbA1c drop dramatically. There is the IT professional who invented a simple habit: micro-walking every hour instead of sitting all day.
Beyond personal stories, the campaign dives deep into emerging science. Leading experts (including renowned diabetologists, bariatric surgeons and researchers) will explore questions that scientists themselves are still debating:
- Why are Indians genetically more vulnerable to diabetes?
- Can diabetic patients pledge blood and organ donation?
- What role does stress play in triggering Type 2 diabetes?
- Is gut health connected to metabolic disease?
- Why are thin individuals and undernourished populations also developing diabetes?
Some researchers are now discussing a lesser-known category sometimes described as Type 5 diabetes, linked to malnutrition and metabolic changes in lean individuals. The disease, it seems, does not follow the stereotypes we once believed. Doctors also discuss the links between diabetes and other conditions such as fatty liver disease, hypertension, and heart attacks.
If diabetes is the headline, prediabetes is the footnote that could change the entire story. India has an estimated 136 million adults living with prediabetes. Most of them have no symptoms. Prediabetes is like standing at the edge of a cliff without realizing it. But it is also the stage where prevention is most possible. One of the campaign’s central missions is to help readers understand this invisible phase: what it means, how to detect it early, and what simple lifestyle changes can stop the disease before it fully develops.
Food Is The Cultural Puzzle
Few countries illustrate the complexity of food and health like India. Diet here is not just nutrition but also identity, geography, religion, and history. Punjab celebrates butter-rich gravies. Uttar Pradesh treasures sweets like peda and jalebi. Southern cuisines often revolve around rice. Across the country, wheat rotis dominate daily meals. Yet, traditional diets once coexisted with remarkably low diabetes rates. What changed? This campaign examines that transformation. From the revival of millet-based diets in Maharashtra to the search for medicinal herbs like gurmar (known in Ayurveda as the “sugar destroyer”), our reporters explore how traditional food wisdom might intersect with modern metabolic science. Even something as simple as a specially designed “diabetes roti” will be investigated. The underlying question is: Can cultural food traditions be adapted rather than abandoned?
One of the most unsettling developments in recent years is the rise of diabetes among children and young adults. Lifestyle changes play a role. But researchers are also exploring biological questions. Can parental habits influence the metabolic health of their children? Some studies suggest that even a father’s tobacco use might increase the risk of diabetes in the next generation through epigenetic changes. If that is true, then diabetes becomes a generational issue.
Search For Solutions
Despite the complexity of the problem, there is reason for optimism. Across India, doctors, researchers, yoga practitioners, Ayurvedic experts, and public health workers are experimenting with solutions. Some focus on exercise routines tailored for diabetic patients. Others explore yoga as a tool for metabolic balance. Still others investigate naturopathy, ayurvedic and herbal therapies, modern drug discovery, or precision nutrition plans customized for individual bodies. Priyanshu Nema, a young scientist in Madhya Pradesh is even using computational drug discovery and transcriptomics to explore new diabetes treatments. Innovation is happening everywhere, from hospitals to universities to community health camps.
The story of diabetes in India is not finished yet. In fact, the most important chapters may still be waiting to be written by readers like you who decide, one informed step at a time, to change the ending.
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