Interview with Sudipta Sengupta – Founder and CEO at The Healthy Indian Project (THIP)

An exclusive interview with Sudipta Sengupta – Founder and CEO at The Healthy Indian Project (THIP), A Health Literacy Platform

In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare and wellness, individuals are increasingly seeking reliable information to make informed decisions about their well-being. One visionary individual at the forefront of this movement is Sudipta Sengupta, the Founder and CEO of The Healthy Indian Project (THIP).

With a profound passion for health literacy, Sudipta has dedicated herself to empowering individuals with accurate and accessible information. Through THIP, she has pioneered a dynamic Health Literacy Platform that not only educates but also inspires individuals to take charge of their health journey.

In this exclusive interview, we delve into Sudipta’s journey, the founding principles of THIP, and her vision for fostering a healthier and more informed society.

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind starting The Healthy Indian Project (THIP) and the mission that drives your organization?

Sudipta Sengupta: After working in India’s digital content ecosystem for more than a decade, I realized there is a certain callousness with which publishers produce health content and a corresponding gullibility with which the general public consumes it. In a country with a low doctor-patient ratio and low health literacy, this creates a very dangerous scenario.

People often resort to unscientific suggestions for treatments, leading to delays in proper care, self-medication, and sometimes even death. Having experienced a similar loss, I decided to take up the cause and do something about it.

This gave birth to The Healthy Indian Project—a platform where we aim to make verified health content available to Indians and educate people in a way that enables better conversations with their caregivers, allowing them to take care of their health more effectively.

As India’s Leading Health Fact-Checker, how do you ensure the accuracy and reliability of the health information provided by THIP?

Sudipta Sengupta: The content in THIP goes through multiple levels of checks. Every question we answer or every piece of misinformation we fact-check is reviewed by a team of internal doctors and science writers who scan all available medical research before reaching a conclusion.

This content is then vetted by an external medical professional. The content is further disseminated to a pool of doctors through our newsletters. Furthermore, we always revisit our old content and make an effort to keep it updated as much as possible.

What are your regular challenges in the domain of fact-checking health misinformation?

Sudipta Sengupta: Identifying credible health information or misinformation is a challenging task in itself. A recent study reveals that over 60 percent of Indians fail to identify health misinformation.

Health misinformation, unlike social or political misinformation, doesn’t follow a pattern and is often shared within close circles. It often carries a certain amount of community, religious, or personal bias, making it easily trusted and followed.

This complexity makes controlling the spread very difficult. Additionally, health misinformation has a slow, gradual impact, making it challenging to measure the loss of lives accurately. Consequently, it lacks the shock value that could lead to positive awareness, rendering it a difficult problem to solve.

So, does that mean that there is no solution to this problem?

Sudipta Sengupta: Not like that. It’s just that there is no single solution. It needs to be a combination of awareness, education, and fact-checking, where public health experts, doctors, content creators, and the government need to work hand in hand.

But before all that, at a very ground level, we need to accept that THIS IS A PROBLEM. The biggest issue is that Indian society is still living in denial regarding the impact of health misinformation.

Can there be a profitable business model around building credible health information or fact-checking health misinformation?

Sudipta Sengupta: Hopefully, so. Content, as a business model, is always challenging, and fact-checking, anyway, is a niche area. But still, the impact it creates within the community is quite significant. It may not make us unicorns overnight, but some businesses serve a larger social cause. We would like to believe we fall in that space.

What are your future plans for THIP? Are there any upcoming initiatives, projects, or expansions that you can share with us?

Sudipta Sengupta: We are moving into the online education space soon, followed by community-driven health service models. We aim to provide on-demand content on health to people who need it regarding a particular health condition or treatment. This will help them make better decisions in their overall healthcare journey.

As we conclude our conversation with Sudipta Sengupta, it is evident that her commitment to health literacy is shaping a transformative narrative in the healthcare industry. The Healthy Indian Project stands as a testament to the power of knowledge in promoting wellness and preventing health disparities.

Sudipta’s vision for a society where individuals are empowered with the right information to make proactive choices about their health is both inspiring and impactful. The innovative strides made by THIP underscore the importance of initiatives that prioritize health education and advocacy.

As we look towards the future, Sudipta’s leadership and THIP’s Health Literacy Platform serve as beacons of hope, illuminating a path toward a healthier and more informed world.

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