KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 – The Health Ministry intends to propose to the government to create a policy that will reduce the growth of obesity among Malaysians. Its minister, Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam said as the obesity rate was increasing, the policy was necessary to reduce the rate.
“Malaysians are becoming more and more obese nowadays with the prevalence amongst adults aged 18 years and above having steadily increased from 4.4 percent in 1996 to 15.1 percent in 2011.
“The prevalence of known hypercholesterolemia in adults, aged 18 years and above was 20.7 percent in 2006 and has now increased to 32.7 percent in 2011,” he told reporters after attending the 48th Malaysia-Singapore Congress of Medicine here, yesterday.
He said recently, government had taken steps to reduce sugar consumption among Malaysian by eliminating its subsidy. However he said it was not enough to only reduce the sugar consumption as high cholesterol foods also need to be controlled in the daily intake as it could also lead to obesity symptoms.
“In fact, physical activity is an important element to maintain a healthy lifestyle and reduce cholesterol in the body among others,” he said. Meanwhile, in his opening speech, he said his ministry aimed to reduce new HIV cases from 21.7 per 100,000 populations in the year 2000 to 11 per 100,000 populations next year (2015).
“By the end of 2013, Malaysia had reported a cumulative 101,672 HIV cases, 20,235 AIDS cases and 16,340 deaths related to HIV/AIDS, thus giving a reported of 85,332 cases,” he said.
– BERNAMA
