Materia Medica Malaysiana

New emphasis on kids’ health

Health and lifestyle education for schoolchildren has been grossly neglected – a situation the Health Ministry wants to change.
Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said that after a self-evaluation, the ministry realised that a more-focused approach was needed to draw up programmes at the school and grassroots level.
“We have not utilised the school educational programme well enough. After the self-evaluation, we feel we should be more focused, and to concentrate on the schoolchildren that are our target.
“We also want to get the involvement of the states and districts. With an adequate budget, we hope to have a continuous programme,” he said in an interview.
Consequently, he said, one follow-up action to the ministry's healthy lifestyle campaign was to develop health educational programmes.
Dr Chua said a “knowledge, attitude and practice” study conducted in 1999 showed that in the Klang Valley the level of knowledge on healthy nutrition was the lowest among primary school children and the elderly.
“The level of knowledge among secondary school students was slightly better, but far from satisfactory,” he added.
The Global Youth Tobacco Survey in 2003 revealed that 25.3% of Malaysian youth were tobacco users – 39.2% of boys and 11.2% of girls surveyed were reported to be using tobacco.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Master of Clinical Psychology Programme co-ordinator Dr Alvin Ng Lai Oon had said in April that more children in kindergartens were experiencing stress from having lots of homework with no time to play.
Children had been the focus of the ministry's 1994 healthy lifestyle campaign, while its “Be Healthy for Life” programme in 2003 targeted young people who smoked.
Dr Chua said it was important for parents to be role models for their children by practising a healthy lifestyle and creating an environment for this.
“At the school level, the management needs to play a role in having a suitable environment and infrastructure for healthy living.
“Teachers can play an important role in nurturing the young to not take up smoking and other unhealthy habits. We cannot deny the fact that the influence of teachers and peers is important during the schooling years,” he added.