A scheme to raise awareness about diabetes, whose backers include Nokia, aims to reach one million users across India with an SMS campaign over the next two years. The campaign, which is led by US NGO Arogya World, will be delivered via Nokia Life Tools, the vendor’s information service. Its backers claims it is one of the first nationwide mobile health initiatives targeting diabetes in a developing country. It was announced during the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting.

Arogya World will provide free content for six months to both new and existing subscribers to Nokia Life Tools' health channels in India. Text messages will be delivered twice a week in 12 different languages. Once the campaign is finished users will be able to opt in to receive further diabetes-related messaging for a nominal fee.

“Arogya World is committed to preventing diabetes through lifestyle changes in India and is leveraging mhealth as a solution to the diabetes crisis,” said Nalini Saligram (pictured), the NGO’s founder.  If successful the current campaign could act as a benchmark for similar initiatives elsewhere in the developing world, she said.

The consortium behind the scheme is led by Arogya World and in addition to Nokia its backers are Emory University, research firm Synovate, pharmaceutical manufacturer Biocon,  healthcare insurer Aetna and Lifescan, a supplier of blood glucose meters.