Obesity: Addressing the Global Challenge

The global obesity epidemic is one of today’s biggest public health problems. Obesity in Asia, especially among children, is increasing at an alarming rate. In Malaysia alone, more than half of the population is overweight or obese.

Obesity places a huge health burden on people, exposing them to a greater risk of developing other medical conditions. As well as this, increasing rates of obesity and associated health problems result in a significant economic burden on the healthcare system. Despite multiple interventions in Malaysia, obesity prevalence continues to rise at a startling rate.

To explore these issues further and make suggestions for strategies to address these, the Academy of Medical Sciences and Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) conducted a workshop on “Addressing the Global Health Challenge of Obesity in Malaysia” from 2 – 3 October 2017 in Kuala Lumpur. The main objective of the workshop was to consider obesity in Malaysia and the rest of the world to find a more coherent and consistent approach to responding to the health challenges that arise from it. More than 60 people participated in the workshop represented by academics, industry players, public health officers, and policy makers. 

In Malaysia, over half of the population is either overweight (13.3%) or obese (38.5%), and 73% of yearly deaths are caused by non-communicable diseases often associated with obesity such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. Malaysia is also the highest among ASEAN countries for total cost of obesity, which is at 10% - 19% of national healthcare spending (as reported by The Economist Intelligence Unit in 2017).

Workshop participants noted that one of the key challenges in developing a national obesity strategy is lack of coordination between different sectors and stakeholders in Malaysia, mainly between the different relevant ministries, industry and academia. Many of the policy areas requiring action fall outside the Ministry of Health’s jurisdiction and are within other ministries such as Trade, Agriculture and Consumerism.

Participants concluded that a comprehensive and coherent approach operating across government and involving multi-sectoral stakeholders is urgently needed to identify and prioritise policy options to combat obesity in Malaysia. Recommendations from the workshop were also formulated for short and long term solutions:

• To highlight to government that tackling obesity has to be a cross-ministry commitment requiring direction and monitoring at a higher level e.g. by the Office of the Science Advisor, the National Science and Research Council or the Prime Minister’s office.
• To promote a holistic view in tackling obesity and its complications. This should encompass exercise, town planning, and weight reduction motivations and not just focus on the linkage of food consumption to obesity.
• To frame obesity reduction explicitly as an integral part of the national development agenda through the 12th Malaysia Plan 2020–2025.
• To advocate to policymakers to consider ‘harder’ policies such as imposing a sugar tax, the removal of subsidies on cooking oil and flour, and the use of zero GST to incentivise healthier dietary, physical and mental lifestyles.

ASM, in its advisory position, has a unique role to play in driving these solutions forward. The report from this workshop will be presented to the Science Advisor to Prime Minister and negotiate for cross-ministerial dialogue (e.g. Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government) to discuss the report and develop cross-ministerial/multi-pronged strategies to tackle obesity within the next six months.

The event was funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund as part of its goal to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by developing countries.

Visit our GCRF webpage to read more about the fund.