State praised for being a leader in sustainable devt
KUCHING: Sarawak has always been a fine example of leadership when it comes to sustainable development including within the health sector, said Academy of Medicine Malaysia’s College of Public Health Medicine president Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman.
Dr Lokman said village health volunteers – whose pioneering work commenced way back in the 1960s – is very much relevant to this day, in the era of community empowerment for health.
“Kuching City is the first city in Malaysia, and amongst the pioneers within the region to adopt the healthy city concept, a fine example of how the nonhealth sector incorporates health objectives in the overall management and development of the city, and it remains a thriving city till today.
“This is certainly a true testimony to the well- established and effective leadership qualities amongst the leaders in Sarawak,” he said during the Fifth Asia Pacific Conference on Public Health, which was launched by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, on Monday.
Dr Lokman said the conference will deliberate on the sustainable development goals (SDG) with the theme ‘Realising the Sustainable Development Goals Aspirations on Health’.
“As we are well aware, the United Nations had set 17 Global Goals with 169 targets that all 191 member states, including Malaysia, have agreed to work towards achieving them by 2030. Although there is only one specific health goal of the SDG, it is universally accepted that all the other 16 goals will contribute towards health and well-being, truly in the spirit that all sectors are indeed health sectors,” he said.
Over 650 delegates from 16 countries are attending the conference with renown speakers from the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
“There are four plenaries, 36 symposium papers, 72 free oral presentations and 96 posters that were and will be presented in this conference. The high number of entries has been encouraging and it resonates the fact that the Asia Pacific Conference of Public Health has always been a well-established platform for our young public health professionals to groom their knowledge and exposure whilst the seniors share their expertise and experiences,” he said.
“Our college philosophy is simple, that we want to encourage as many delegates participation as possible, especially from the developing countries in the region. Our primary objective is for the continuous professional development (CPD) of our public health fraternity and we certainly do not want an expensive registration fee to be a stumbling factor.”
The Fifth Asia Pacific Conference on Public Health will end today (Sept 13).
Kuching City is the first city in Malaysia, and amongst the pioneers within the region to adopt the healthy city concept, a fine example of how the non-health sector incorporates health objectives in the overall management and development of the city, and it remains a thriving city till today. Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, Academy of Medicine Malaysia’s College of Public Health Medicine president