Program announced at Clinton Global Initiative meeting aims to reduce salt, reused cooking oil and other dietary risks
Atlanta, GA, September 22, 2026: Arogya World has announced a two-year initiative to train 10,000 street food vendors across India in healthier cooking practices, targeting dietary risk factors linked to diabetes, hypertension and other noncommunicable diseases.
The U.S.-based public health nonprofit announced the initiative Tuesday at the Clinton Global Initiative 2026 Annual Meeting in New York as a CGI Commitment to Action.
Under the program, street food vendors will be trained to reduce excess salt, avoid repeatedly reusing cooking oil, adopt healthier cooking methods and encourage more balanced meals for customers.
“We want to change the way India eats,” said Dr. Nalini Saligram, founder and CEO of Arogya World. “Millions of Indians eat food from corner food carts, before work, after school, and between shifts. We think it is therefore smart to educate street food vendors on healthier cooking, in addition to educating consumers, as part of our comprehensive nationwide diabetes prevention strategy.”
Arogya World will work with the National Association of Street Vendors of India, or NASVI, to implement the program in Mumbai, Bengaluru and other urban centers over the next two years.
The organizations plan to use simple, visual and culturally appropriate educational materials designed for vendors with varying literacy levels. Pre- and post-training assessments will be used to measure changes in knowledge and cooking practices, while standardized materials are intended to allow the program to be replicated in multiple locations.
According to Arogya World, an individual street food vendor typically serves 80 to 100 customers a day, giving vendors the potential to influence food choices well beyond their own households.
“We can together empower our community of marginalized workers to improve their own health as well as that of the customers they cook for,” said Arbind Singh, national coordinator of NASVI.
Beyond Type 1, a global diabetes nonprofit, will provide funding support for the initiative.
“Improving health requires solutions that are informed by the people they’re designed to serve,” said Kristian Hurley, executive vice president of Social Impact and Global Advocacy at Beyond Type 1. He said the organization would bring its diabetes community connections, educational resources and global reach to the partnership.
The new initiative follows an Arogya World pilot program conducted in 2024. According to findings cited by the organization, the pilot showed 80 to 85 percent retention of health messages among participating vendors, reductions in oil and salt use, and a high willingness among vendors to adopt healthier practices without hurting sales. Consumers also showed acceptance of the healthier options.
The initiative addresses a large and deeply established part of India’s food economy. Arogya World estimates that the country has about 10 million street food vendors, many of whom are among India’s economically marginalized urban workers.
At the same time, India is confronting a substantial burden of diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases. The 2023 ICMR-INDIAB study estimated that 101 million people in India had diabetes and another 136 million had prediabetes.
Arogya World said its 2024 pilot found that 98 percent of street food vendors surveyed had never received formal training on reducing excessive salt or on the risks associated with repeatedly reusing cooking oil.
While food-safety initiatives in India have increasingly addressed hygiene and safe food handling, the organization said nutrition-focused interventions targeting the informal street food sector remain limited.
Arogya World, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organization focused on diabetes prevention, says it has reached more than 29.5 million people in India over the past 15 years through programs promoting healthier diets, physical activity and preventive health behaviors.
For its latest CGI Commitment to Action, Arogya World will lead program design and delivery, nutrition and behavior-change communication, monitoring and evaluation, and large-scale health promotion. NASVI will help mobilize vendors and deliver training, while Beyond Type 1 will provide funding support.
The Clinton Global Initiative was founded by former President Bill Clinton in 2005 and brings together organizations that make specific, measurable commitments aimed at addressing social, economic and environmental challenges worldwide.
