UCSI to stage webinar in conjunction with No Tobacco Day
KUCHING: UCSI University is organising an online Tobacco-Free Awareness Campaign titled ‘Why Quit? How Addicted Are You?’ on May 21 from 2pm to 4pm.
Held in conjunction with World No Tobacco Day 2022, the webinar is organised in collaboration with the Society for Cancer Advocacy and Awareness (SCAN) Kuching and Borneo Medical Centre.
Referring to The Tobacco Atlas website, USCI University said more than 29,000 Malaysians died from tobacco-related disease every year and yet more than 44,000 children (aged between 10 and 14 years) and 452,800 adults (15+ years) continue to use tobacco each day.
“Diseases caused by tobacco smoking include lung diseases, cancers, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis,” said the university.
Smoking also increases the risk of tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and weakening of the immune system including higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis, it adds. The main objectives of the webinar are to create awareness of the side-effects of tobacco smoking and to encourage youths and the community to stop smoking and to give up tobacco products.
The speaker, Dr Wong Jyi Lin, is a respiratory physician from Borneo Medical Centre who holds professional memberships and certifications from the Malaysian Thoracic Society, Royal College of Physicians (RCP UK), Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR) and Certified in Good Clinical Practice. Dr Wong is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh.
Chris Cheng, President of Society for Cancer Advocacy and Awareness (SCAN) Kuching, will deliver the opening remarks. Founded through the joint efforts of a group of cancer patients, survivors, caregivers and concerned professionals, SCAN is motivated to be the unified voice for all cancer patients to improve access to high quality health care and to be the strategic supporter and partner to the Sarawak Government.
Registration for the event is free of charge through https://ucsi.link/Free-Tobacco-Campaign For further information, call 082-596965 or log on to the UCSI Sarawak Campus Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ucsisarawak.