Rising NCD figures in health survey alarming, says Liow

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The fourth National Health and Morbidity survey has just been completed and the results are worrying.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who revealed the findings yesterday, said the results could be traced to the unhealthy lifestyle and dietary habits of Malaysians.
“The figures show that there is an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), from obesity to diabetes and high blood pressure, and this trend is alarming,” said Liow.
“Only 7.5% of Malaysians follow the WHO recommendation of taking five servings of vegetable and fruits every day, and only about 64.8% exercise,” he added.
Despite aggressive health awareness campaigns, 15% of Malaysians are obese (1% up since 2006) and almost half of all adult Malaysians are overweight or obese.
More than three in 10 Malaysians have high blood pressure (0.5% up from 2006) and about one in five Malaysians over 30 are now diabetic (6% up from 2006).
Over the last 15 years, more children between ages five and nine were also found to have mental health issues.
The survey estimates that about one in 20 children in that age range has some form of mental health problem. The same trend is also found in teenagers aged 15 to 16.
This worrying trend had prompted the Health Ministry to step up its efforts to deal with NCDs.
Its latest effort is to expand the focus of its existing Communication for Behavioural Impact (Combi) programme for dengue to also include community education about NCDs.
With this new focus, the ministry has appointed three 1Malaysia Health Ambassadors TV presenter Aznil Nawawi, radio deejay Phoebe Yap and talk show host Uthaya Kumar Gopal to encourage Malaysians to adopt healthy lifestyles.
This came after a Cabinet committee involving nine ministries was set up in October to tackle NCDs at policy level.
“We realise that we cannot tackle this problem alone,” said Liow, who announced earlier that the target of this Cabinet committee is to reduce the prevalence of NCDs by 15% in the next 10 years.