Health & Living

We take our heart for granted, expecting it to beat continuously and carry out its job of pumping blood without fail. However, age and many medical conditions can cause damage to the heart muscle, leading to a condition called heart failure. On World Heart Day, we learn about the signs and symptoms of heart failure, and what we can do to treat and manage the condition. Image credit: Shutterstock S...

Older people in our society often live with multiple health risks or diseases, but their needs are more than just the sum of their health problems. Yet, older adults aren’t given priority in our healthcare system as whole individuals, but are shuttled around to receive fragmented care. Similarly, when it comes to health funding, the needs of older people are only addressed through piecemeal alloca...

In conjunction with World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September, this episode of Because Feelings Matter features Alia Ali, a suicide prevention advocate and founder of Awareness Against Suicide (AWAS). AWAS is the first peer support group set up exclusively by survivors and for survivors of suicide loss in Malaysia. Alia - affectionately known as ‘Kak Ngah’ - shares her journey of coping with su...

Chronic kidney disease  is an NCD that we’ve struggled to tackle for decades. In fact, the burden of chronic kidney disease continues to rise - and thus the number of people who progress to end-stage renal disease, a point where they need to be on dialysis or receive a kidney transplant. On this episode of NCD Chronicles, we hear from Siva Kumar Raghavan, who is now living with end-stage rena...

The burden of cardiovascular diseases is one of the biggest public health challenges we face, and not only affects our healthcare system but our economy as well. But with the early years of the pandemic significantly affecting patient care, how are patients and healthcare workers coping, and how can we better support those at highest risk of developing cardiovascular disease? Consultant urologist...

Child sexual abuse and exploitation has made the headlines again, with recent news reports that child pornography is rife on Malaysian-registered IP addresses, as well as allegations of sexual harassment by a school motivational speaker. Both instances show that sexual violence against children can happen under our very noses, and that we need to do more to protect children. We speak to consultant...

While anyone can develop vision problems at any age, the majority of people who have vision impairment or even blindness are over the age of 50. But is vision impairment inevitable as you age? We speak to Dr Tara George, consultant ophthalmologist and retinal specialist, to find out about how vision problems affect older adults, and how we can help them lead a good quality of life while retaining...

In our monthly open clinic segment, Dr Shilpa Nambiar, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, joins us to answer questions about labour and childbirth - ranging from Caesarean sections, to water births.  Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every mental health issue undeniably has an impact on the individual with the struggles, but there is also another burden that is often hidden from sight - the burden that is borne by the caregivers. While it is both a rewarding and central role, caregivers are also at higher risk of physical and mental health illnesses, financial issues, and work-related challenges. In our conversation with Amali...

In conjunction with Merdeka and Malaysia Day 2022, Health & Living features healthcare heroes - individuals and organisations on a mission to make healthcare accessible to marginalised communities across Malaysia. One of these communities are people living with HIV, who continue to face discrimination today, but there are grassroots organisations working to eliminate that stigma, such as the S...

Malaysia’s organ donation rate is among the lowest in the world, with only 2.84 transplant procedures carried out per one million population in 2021. Recently, the Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin announced that organ donation registration can now be made through MySejahtera, which is believed to help encourage more donors to pledge. Consultant urologist Dr Vijayan Manogran and consultant neph...

The indoor mask mandate was lifted by the government last week, with masks only deemed necessary in public transport, healthcare settings and care homes, and for those who have tested positive for COVID-19. First, we speak to Liu Wei Zi, a psoriasis patient, on how the pandemic and the lifting of the mask mandate affect people who are immunocompromised. Then, we catch up with Assistant Professor D...

Consultant clinical psychologist Paul Jambunathan joins our monthly mental health clinic to address your concerns regarding mental, emotional and psychosocial issues. On this episode, we discuss bullying and the psychology of it from the perspective of the perpetrators and the victims, as well as how to cope with the mental health impact.  Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listene...

The tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic was not only that tens of thousands of people in Malaysia died from the disease, or that more than half a million people slipped closer to financial strife. There has also been a parallel mental health pandemic, and deaths due to suicide that are only talked about under the veil of secrecy and stigma. In conjunction with World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 Septe...

Personalised medicine tailored to the individual’s health needs is not exactly new, but it’s a field that’s rapidly growing and garnering much attention in various fields of health, especially in cancer treatment. On this episode of Brain Waves, we break down the role of genetics in personalised medicine and the future of personalised medicine in neurological diseases, with Dr Azlina Ahmad Annuar,...

At the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, para-powerlifter Bonnie Bunyau Gustin broke the Games’ record three times and brought home the gold. With more para athletes achieving victories internationally, consultant orthopaedic surgeon Dr Rajesh Singh puts on his anatomist’s hat to look at how these athletes condition themselves for competition, and what they’re up against when it comes to pu...

In conjunction with Merdeka and Malaysia Day 2022, Health & Living features healthcare heroes - individuals and organisations on a mission to make healthcare accessible to marginalised communities across Malaysia. REACH Sarawak, which stands for Rural Expeditions Assisting Community Health, is a team of mostly healthcare professionals, who volunteer their time to provide healthcare services to...

While we’ve done a lot to catch up with backlogged surgeries and disrupted medical procedures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is another area that has yet to catch up: HPV vaccinations for 13 year old girls. With at least two cohorts of teenage girls that have missed their HPV vaccinations in 2020 and 2021, what impact would this have on the incidence of cervical cancer in the years to come...

Kedah is now the latest state after Selangor to have banned child marriage, after amending its state laws to raise the minimum age of marriage for girls from 16 to 18. But in many states across Malaysia, child marriage is still permissible by law, and the government has stated that there are no plans to ban it yet, despite continued calls by child rights’ activists and NGOs. Consultant urologist D...

In war-torn eastern Ukraine, a non-governmental organisation called the Alliance for Public Health is working to ensure that the fight against HIV and AIDS doesn’t fall by the wayside amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis. APH was recently awarded the Elizabeth Taylor Human Rights Award at the 2022 International AIDS Conference in Montreal, for their exceptional courage in their efforts to advocate...

In conjunction with Merdeka and Malaysia Day 2022, Health & Living features healthcare heroes - individuals and organisations on a mission to make healthcare accessible to marginalised communities across Malaysia. Non-profit organisation ROSE Foundation was set up in 2019 with the ambitious goal of making Malaysia one of the first countries in the region to be free of cervical cancer, through...

Being diagnosed with asthma, but brushing off its significance, is a common narrative you hear among people with the condition. But with a prevalence of up to 15% among adults, asthma is one of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that presents a heavy burden to the healthcare system and to society. In this episode of NCD Chronicles , Sharizal Shaarani shares his experience of living with asthma,...

The Healthcare Work Culture Improvement Task Force released its report last week, which was aimed at reviewing the Ministry of Health’s work culture. One of the task force’s findings was that bullying does occur among Ministry of Health staff, not only to house officers, but also across all levels of staff within the ministry. Dr Eugene Tee, Associate Professor in Psychology, joins us to unpack th...

‘Eat, Sleep, Poop…Repeat.’ You’ve probably seen this on a baby’s onesie, and it seems to capture the entirety of an infant’s daily reality. With such simple needs, and presumably underdeveloped emotional maturity, infants probably don’t have much to worry about. But research is increasingly showing that some of the mental health concerns of teenagers and adults can be traced all the way back to in...

We’ve been hearing more about post-COVID problems, ranging from breathing issues to memory and focus problems. Perhaps a little less is known about long COVID related to the heart, so we check in with Datuk Dr Sanjiv Joshi, Consultant Cardiologist from Pantai Hospital KL, to find out about the short- and long-term cardiovascular complications related to COVID-19. Image credit: Shutterstock / Zay N...