Non-Communicable Disease Talk

From Left: Dr Feisul, Nurul Zulaika, Assoc Prof Dr Thaw and Dr Kyaw delivering their talks.

The Centre for Research on Non-Communicable Diseases (CRNCD) organised a seminar on “How to avoid Non-Communicable Disease (NCD)” on 12 October 2017. The seminar aimed to provide a better understanding among the academicians, healthcare providers, researchers, students and the public on NCDs through talks by health experts.

Present at the seminar were CRNCD Chairperson-cum-Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) Head of Department for Medicine Prof Dr Shelly Soo, Ministry of Health Public Health Physician Dr Feisul Idzwan Mustapha, Sungai Long Medical Centre Dietician Nurul Zulaika Habib Rahman, staff and students.

Prof Shelly welcomed the audience and said, “It is good to have a healthy body and mind, and the public should be aware of such terms and how to prevent non-communicable diseases through exercise which is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

In Dr Feisul’s talk, he spoke about risk factors attributed to premature deaths, the probability of death, causation pathway for NCDs, the impact of NCDs in Malaysia, policy and regulatory interventions and the NCD risk factors continuum. He added, “The changes in human behaviours are strongly influenced by one’s living environment.”

Nurul educated the audience with her talk titled “Our health is in our hands”. In her talk, she shared her expertise on topics such as maintaining a normal healthy weight, body mass index, food pyramid, serving size, tips on cutting sugar intake and types of diet. “Your hand is proportionate to your body, its size never changes and it’s always with you, making it the perfect tool for measuring food and nutrients,” said Nurul.

FMHS Assoc Prof Dr Thaw Zin shared his talk titled “Mental health, Brain activity and Dementia prevention” which focused on the concept of active ageing, health and quality of life, the ultimate goal of medical practice, theories of dementia and Alzheimer, the power of mind and brain-healthy lifestyle. He added, “We must not only do physical exercise, we need to exercise our brain as well in order to stay mentally fit.”

FMHS Dr Kyaw Ko Latt enlightened the audience with his talk titled “Global Tobacco Epidemic and Implementing Tobacco Control”. In his talk, he spoke about the prevalence of tobacco smoking, the discouragement of tobacco usage, factors attributing to tobacco use and the effects of tobacco on the human body.

The seminar was followed by Q&A session, souvenir presentation and photography session before the event concluded.