What8217;s the Score?

Figure this one out! The recent victories of the Indian cricketers are going to enhance the average Indian8217;s health. Do you see the con...

Figure this one out! The recent victories of the Indian cricketers are going to enhance the average Indian8217;s health. Do you see the connection? I didn8217;t either until quite recently, when I was in Delhi and met with 28-year-old Dr Vikram Kumar Delhi-rooted, Harvard Medical School educated. He8217;s made waves in the US, and won applause from The New York Times for his invention of Diabetnet, a computer game to motivate diabetic children to earn points by guessing their blood glucose levels and those of others suffering similarly in a virtual community.

8216;8216;We can make chronic illnesses fun for those who have to live with them. It teaches them to take charge of their own health and enjoy it as well,8217;8217; emphasises Dr Kumar. A recipient of the Carl Soros fellowship, he is working on several projects, such as one for patients with bipolar disorder or manic-depressive syndrome. He has created a cellphone game to help these patients check which phase they are in.

As CEO of Dimagi, Dr Kumar has also worked in Vallabhgarh, Haryana, and in South Africa to motivate patients to get tested for HIV and AIDS. Dr Kumar says that should there be a demand for these in India, then he would have to build them on cellphones or glucose meters.

8216;8216;To change medicine, it has to be based on the patient8217;s psychology, and hospitalisation does not need to be the only route to curing,8217;8217; says Dr Kumar emphatically. He dedicates his days and nights to following up and implementing his thoughts and still makes time for playing the tabla and chess, and playing cricket with his Delhi family8217;s servants and squash in Harvard.

As a layperson, I am curious to know the principles behind his inventions. Most of these are based on the principle of 8216;modelling8217;, of watching others doing well and emulating and observing them and creating a notion of 8216;self-efficacy8217;. This principle has been delineated by Albert Bandura at Stanford University in California, who proposed that through 8216;modelling8217;, we can emulate better examples and thereby improve ourselves.

8216;8216;Now you see why I am happy that the Indian cricket team has won?8217;8217; Dr Kumar asks with a twinkle in his eyes. 8216;8216;These are the healthy vigorous people we will be modelling ourselves on, and this is what will improve overall health.8217;8217;