SINTOK: The Ministry of Health (MOH) is stepping up campaign on non-communicable diseases (NCD) like diabetes, hypertension and heart ailment to food operators.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Sirlin said food operators must be aware of the importance of healthy food and can play an important role in providing nutritious food to society.
“The ministry has conducted a campaign to get food operators reduce the use of milk and sugar in preparing teh tarik.
“A bigger campaign will be held to create more awareness so that the rate of NCD can be reduced,” she told reporters after launching ‘Program Siswa Sihat 1Malaysia at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) here yesterday.
Rosnah said it was part of an ongoing effort through the National Strategic Plan for NCD emphasising on promotion and prevention strategies.
“Elements like healthy eating habits and physical activities are the main focus of the plan.
“Awareness is already there, only practice is lacking. Malaysia is ranked first in Southeast Asia and sixth in Asia in terms of obesity rate.
“Cardiovascular diseases like heart ailment and stroke are the major cause of death in government hospitals last year with 25.4 per cent or 11,812 deaths.”
Rosmah said cardiovascular diseases were also a major cause of premature death in government hospitals with 35 percent deaths among those below 60 years-old.
The National Health and Morbidity Study in 2006 found that 43.7 per cent of 5,545,891 Malaysians aged above 18 years do not lead an active life. — Bernama