The Causes of the Crisis of Obesity, Diabetes & other Non-Communicable Diseases in Malaysia and How to Solve It

Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) today hosted a discussion session title “The crisis of obesity, diabetes & other NCDs: the crisis and how to prevent it.” As Malaysia is the second fattest country in South East Asia and the sixth in Asia-Pacific, the session was particularly pertinent in order to understand the causes for this problem, as well as debating the essential steps that need to be taken in order to solve this ever-growing crisis.

This event was held on heels of the release of “Addressing Malnutrition in Malaysia” report by Professor Dr Wan Manan Wan Muda, Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Tan Zhai Gen. The report provides an overview of the nutrition status of Malaysians and policy options to address both micronutrient deficiencies (of vitamins and minerals such as iron and calcium) and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes and those causing obesity). The Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, other relevant government ministries and agencies must work together to ensure that the challenge of NCDs, which dominate leading cause of premature death in Malaysia, is addressed promptly in order to improve the future wellbeing of the country. This includes ensuring food supply chains promote healthy diets, improving nutrition education in schools, improve public nutrition information, ban unhealthy food and beverage advertising for kids and regulate food sales in school canteens.

The session brought together participants from government ministries, agencies, researchers and civil society to debate and discuss how school feeding programs can help overcome malnutrition in Malaysia.