Recently, the Minister of Health, Khairy Jamaluddin announced that we will be transitioning from the pandemic to an endemic soon by the end of October. In case you still do not know what an endemic is, it is essentially a disease that will always exist in a community or place and is expected to always be there at a stable and low rate. One such example in Malaysia is dengue.
In order to prepare the public for the transition, the minister took to Twitter to convey the key to the transition and that is,
“Live healthier lives.”
He elaborated and said that in order to do so, one would need to “eat well, exercise and go for regular health screenings”. The reasoning behind this is most of the death cases and ICU admissions are recorded by those who have comorbidities. Examples of comorbidities include and are not limited to diabetes, hypertension, cardio-cerebrovascular disease, etc.
“Malaysia is quite vulnerable because we top the region in so many NCDs like obesity, hypertension, diabetes etc.”
Based on the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019 by the Ministry of Health (KKM), there are approximately 3.9 million (1 in 5) Malaysian adults who have diabetes while 6.4 million (3 in 10) Malaysians have hypertension. 8 million adults (4 in 10) in Malaysia have raised total cholesterol levels.
Due to these worrying statistics, the minister said that everyone’s first line of defence (other than getting vaccinated) is to stay healthy.
Well, it may sound simple but the truth is that it takes a lot to stay healthy and for some, it includes a 180-degree lifestyle change. Be it as it may, this is for the betterment of ourselves!
Also read: “Full vaccination is not an excuse” KJ Reminds M’sians Not To Misuse Their Freedom
