Are More Young Women Diagnosed With Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is typically diagnosed among women after the age of 50, yet we seem to be hearing about more women who are being diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age. In conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, more commonly known as Pink October, we speak to clinical oncologist Dr Ni…

Your Guide To Dealing With Stress

We’ve all been stressed before, and for some of us, it’s just part and parcel of our daily lives. So how do you know when you’re coping well or barely treading water? Licensed and registered counsellor Rozy Khalid joins us to help us unpack when stress is good or bad, as well as offer tips on how w…

Opportunities For Budget 2027 To Reform Healthcare

The last year has seen the Ministry of Health attempting to implement long-term systemic reforms, while addressing acute crises, all amid a war in the Middle East. Together with Dr Tharani Loganathan, Associate Professor of Global Health, from Universiti Malaya, we look at how the upcoming Budget 2…

Public Health: Why Bidayuhs Have The Highest Rate of NPC In The World

The Bidayuh in Sarawak have among the highest rates of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) in the world. It is also the most common cancer among Sarawakian men. What are the factors that increase the risk of NPC among the Bidayuh community, and what are the systemic barriers to addressing early diagnosis a…

Beyond The Diagnosis #42 (Part 2): An Organ Donation Saved My Life

Malaysia has one of the lowest organ donation and transplantation rates in the world, despite being an early pioneer of organ donation in the 1970s. Where did we go wrong, and how can we catch up with countries like Spain, whose organ donation rate is 50 times higher than ours? Kidney transplant su…

Should the MMR Vaccine Be Split? (& Other Questions About Childhood Vaccines)

Last month, American president Donald Trump signed an order to limit childhood vaccines and to split the mumps, measles and rubella shots for children in America. While this is just a guidance, and not a mandate, having such recommendations coming from the U.S. president can have a significant infl…

Supporting Social Workers To Help Vulnerable Children

The newly-passed Social Work Profession Bill aims to introduce stricter standards for the field of social work, and regulate the activities of social workers in Malaysia. What does this mean for the thousands of children who depend on social workers, especially those living in vulnerable situations…

Why Secondhand Smoke Still Harms Billions of People

A recent study published in The Lancet Public Health found that in 2023 alone an estimated 2.7 billion people globally were exposed to secondhand smoke, including 767 million children under 15. After decades of anti-smoking campaigns and awareness-building about the dangers of secondhand smoke, why…

Because Feelings Matter #54: Speaking Up About Suicide Loss

Maya (not her real name) lost her loved one to suicide more than a year ago. She still grapples with the grief, anger and guilt today, but she’s come a long way in processing and learning to speak about her loss. In conjunction with World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September, we speak to Maya abo…

Healthy Ageing: Living Well With Osteoarthritis

Most of the people living with osteoarthritis are older but that doesn’t mean that osteoarthritis is an “older person’s disease” and something that just happens as you age. So can you prevent your cartilage from breaking down? And if you have osteoarthritis, how can you still lead a full life? We a…