What is a ‘sutra’?

 Sutra is a Sanskrit word, which literally means string or thread. But in the literary context, sutra is a concise i.e. using few words and meaningful expression of a truth. All vedic knowledge is in the form of Sutras.

To put it simply, a sutra is a sentence or a statement, which has a complete meaning by itself. Every word in a sutra is non deletable, every word is a chapter by itself.

For example, a sutra to create awareness about child sexual abuse can be as follows: “Child sexual abuse, evident or suspect, is a common, preventable, punishable, acute medicolegal emergency.”

·         ‘Child’ means any person below the age of 18 years

·         ‘Sexual’ means sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography as defined in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012

·         ‘Abuse’ means unwelcome/uninvited behavior - involvement of all senses, touch, remarks, gestures, showing pornography, etc.

·         ‘Evident’ means obvious or clearly visible

·         ‘Suspect’ means to consider to be true

·         ‘Common’ means both boys and girls can be victims  

·         ‘Preventable’ means avoidable

·         ‘Punishable’ means imprisonment along with fine

·         ‘Acute’ means of extreme importance, urgent

·         ‘Medicolegal’ means the police has to be informed

·         ‘Emergency’ means immediate action is required; stressful 

Public education is an important part of health care and doctors have a duty to educate not only their patients, but also the community about the significance of a healthy lifestyle.

Sutras can be effectively used in health communication for dissemination of health messages as they are easy to remember. Credible health sutras convey scientific information in a simple language, making it easy for the patient as well as the public to understand and adopt in their daily life.

This is how I teach.

I often use sutras and formulas as a module to educate the general public about important health issues. Some examples of these one-line health messages, which are evidence-based and I have successfully used are as below:

·         Any food of plant in origin does not contain cholesterol.

·         Any fat that is liquid at room temperature is saturated fat.

·         Any fat that is solid at room temperature is unsaturated fat.

·         One percent increases in cholesterol increases the chances of heart attack by 2%.

·         One percent increase in good HDL cholesterol decreases the chances of heart attack by 3%.

·         High BP, blood sugar and blood cholesterol can remain silent for up to a decade.

·         Longer the waist line, shorter the lifeline.

·         Even one whiff of cigarette, active or passive, is not health-friendly.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this write up are entirely my own.