The Founder
Ananya Kakkar
// Why I started this
"We are taught the Pythagoras theorem yet we are not taught basic life support skills to be able to save a life"
I'm Ananya — a student who kept noticing the same gap: every classroom around me trained kids for exams, and none of us were trained for the one moment that could decide whether someone we loved came home.
Cardiac arrest is the largest preventable killer most people have never thought about. In India, our bystander CPR rate is 1.3% — less than 1 in 50 of us would know what to do. That's not a knowledge problem. That's a curriculum problem.
Start a Heart is my answer. A youth-built campaign to put Basic Life Support training in every Indian school and to make CPR as normal a life skill as crossing the road. Built for students, by a student.
The Journey
How it started.
The Spark
My dad is a doctor. He kept complaining about how almost no one around him — outside hospitals — knew CPR or Basic Life Support. I never really paid attention, until I started reading the data and realised how huge this gap actually is.
The Research
I went deep into the numbers — comparing India with Norway, Japan, Denmark and the US — and mapping exactly where our schools, communities and policies fall short.
The Build
I trained to become a CPR and Basic Life Support champion myself, so I could teach what I was asking for — not just talk about it.
Now
I run sessions for schools, societies and companies, and push for CPR and BLS to be built into the Indian school curriculum — one classroom at a time.
What I believe
Youth-led
Lifesaving education shouldn't wait for adults to fix it. Our generation is faster, louder, and more online.
Data-honest
Every number on this site has a citation. The crisis is real enough without exaggeration.
Action-only
Awareness is not the goal — trained citizens are. Every visit should end with one concrete next step.
Want to bring this to your school?
Get in Touch →Made with ♥ by
Ananya Kakkar