Malaysia Health Ministry Plans To Introduce Anti-Obesity Law By 2020

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry plans to introduce an anti-obesity law by 2020 to check the drastic increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country. NCD Control deputy director Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar during an interview in the "Dalam Radar" (The Radar) programme produced by Bernama Radio24, said the ministry was waiting for feedback from the public and the relevant authorities before it could proceed with the proposal. Health director-general Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman had proposed such a legislation in October last year. According to Dr Zainal Ariffin, the health ministry recently met to discuss the framework and was looking at Japan's anti-obesity law as the best model to emulate. "This may appear to be an enforcement, and it's not something that we like to do but the drastic increase in NCDs among Malaysians has reached an alarming level," he said. The National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2011 found that about 5.8 million Malaysians suffered from hypertension, 2.6 million from diabetes and 2.5 million from obesity. -- BERNAMA