Meet the 16-Year-old championing mental health for India’s unsung heroes

In the quiet corridors of hospitals and the tense hush of home recovery rooms, caregivers shoulder an emotional weight rarely acknowledged. They feed, bathe, manage medications, handle crises, and—more often than not—forget to care for themselves. At the center of a growing movement to shift that narrative is 16-year-old Rohan Monga, a high-performing student from Mumbai on a mission to spotlight the forgotten backbone of India’s healthcare ecosystem: caregivers.

Prompted by the silent suffering of family members assisting loved ones through cancer and chronic illness, Rohan turned his academic excellence into a passionate research project. After studying over 100 sources and conducting field interviews, he authored a comprehensive guidebook titled “Caring for Yourself and Others: The Ultimate Guide to Caregiving”— a practical and deeply empathetic resource tailored for Indian caregivers. 

This National Humanitarian Excellence Award-winning guide has made serious contributions to the caregivers of Bombay. 

“Caregivers experience burnout, anxiety, and even depression—but they’re rarely offered structured support,” Rohan says. “Patients get the doctors. Caregivers get exhaustion.”

At the heart of his guide is the CARES Framework, an original, research-backed system designed to integrate self-care into the daily routines of caregivers. Each letter stands for a critical self-care practice:

• Connect with Support
  

• Active Health Maintenance
  

• Recharge with Respite
  

• Engage in Relaxation
  

• Sustained & Positive Journaling

These practices are paired with practical checklists, mental health exercises, and recommended mobile apps—bridging science and accessibility in a way that’s uncommon for materials created by adults, let alone teenagers.

But Rohan’s impact doesn’t stop at the page. He recently launched “Caregivers of Bombay”, an online storytelling platform that documents the lived experiences of local caregivers, ranging from young adults caring for terminally ill parents to elderly women tending to grandchildren with developmental disorders. Through blog posts, videos, and digital support circles, the platform is slowly building a community rooted in resilience and relatability.

“He made me realize I mattered too,” says Sneha Kulkarni, 39, who has cared for her cancer-survivor husband for four years. “The guide helped me understand that taking care of myself is supposed to be a non-negotiable aspect of my life.”

Experts in health psychology are beginning to take notice. “Rohan’s work fills a critical gap,” says Dr Reshma Palep, Senior Oncosurgeon, Mumbai. “He’s offering more than awareness—he’s offering tools, language, and hope.”

As India grapples with rising chronic illness rates and an ageing population, the burden on caregivers is only set to increase. Yet, as Rohan’s work demonstrates, meaningful change doesn’t always have to come from institutions or policy reforms. Sometimes, it comes from a teenager who asks the right question at the right time: “Who’s caring for the person doing the caring?”