AIIMS Gorakhpur launches ‘UMEED' against addiction
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Aligned with this year's WHO theme 'Protecting Youth from Tobacco and Nicotine Industry Interference,' the project UMEED (Understanding, Mentorship & Education to End Emerging Substance use & Develop resilience) is being implemented across six premier institutes including AIIMS Nagpur, Guwahati, Rajkot, Deoghar, and JIPMER Puducherry.
The initiative will engage 108 schools where teachers and peer leaders will be trained in role-play, refusal skills, and awareness drives on harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. Community health officers will extend outreach into rural belts
The project also aims to expose tobacco industry tactics—like selling cigarettes near schools, offering single-stick sales, and placing products at children's eye level. "Children lured by candy often get exposed to tobacco. These tactics must be curbed through awareness and enforcement," said national coordinator project UMEED and assistant professor in Gorakhpur AIIMS Dr U Venkatesh.
"Project UMEED is not only a program—it's a movement," said executive director, AIIMS Gorakhpur Vibha Dutta.
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