KUALA LUMPUR - The Health Ministry is going to intensify investment in the prevention of diseases instead of channeling more funds for treatment of illnesses.

Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the ministry had been spending 66 per cent of its annual budget on treatment of illness and less than five per cent on prevention.

He said this was in tandem with the global trend of spending more on treatment compared with prevention.

However, he said the ministry was going to do the opposite and concentrate more on prevention.

"Prevention of diseases is closely related to the environment and it is the responsibility of the government and the people to manage it.

"If the environment is managed and controlled properly, we can reduce the risk of diseases related to environment," he said, citing the increase of respiratory diseases and deaths caused by air pollution globally as examples.

He said this after attending the Third Ministerial Meeting of the Regional Forum on Environment and Health in Southeast and East Asian Countries yesterday.

The forum was officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and attended by health and environment ministers from Southeast and East Asian countries.

The ministry presented five areas to be addressed in the next three years: air quality, climate change and health, environmental radiation, healthy settings in everyday life and organisations, and contingency planning, preparedness and response in environmental health-related issues and diseases.

Malaysia's recent experience with the haze, which caused respiratory problems among people in affected areas, was also discussed at the forum.

Touching on the same topic, World Health Organisation regional director for Western Pacific Dr Shin Young Soo said 25 per cent of global diseases could be prevented through known strategies to manage environmental health risks.

Dr Shin applauded the ministry's stand on the issue of environment and health, noting that management of health through protection of environment was important in Asia, where urbanisation is rapid.

Meanwhile, asked to comment on the ministry's management of non-communicable disease (NCD) in Malaysia, Dr Subramaniam said prevention of NCD had become its prime agenda in coming years.

"We have embarked on a mission to decrease the risks of NCD among Malaysians through prevention and behavioural change.

"Keeping people healthy is better than treating people who are sick. That is our philosophy."

He added that even though Malaysians were knowledgeable about health risks, most were unable to translate their knowledge into behavioural change.

"Ninety-three per cent of Malaysians know that dengue is caused by the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes but not all know how to keep their environment clean to ensure that the disease does not spread."

source:MJNnews