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FIRST ARTICLE

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Key facts

In 2022, 1 in 8 people in the world were living with obesity.

Worldwide adult obesity has more than doubled since 1990, and adolescent obesity has quadrupled.

In 2022, 2.5 billion adults (18 years and older) were overweight. Of these, 890 million were living with obesity.

In 2022, 43% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight and 16% were living with obesity.

In 2022, 37 million children under the age of 5 were overweight.

Over 390 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 years were overweight in 2022, including 160 million who were living with obesity.

Overview

Overweight is a condition of excessive fat deposits.

Obesity is a chronic complex disease defined by excessive fat deposits that can impair health. Obesity can lead to increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, it can affect bone health and reproduction, it increases the risk of certain cancers. Obesity influences the quality of living, such as sleeping or moving.

The diagnosis of overweight and obesity is made by measuring people's weight and height and by calculating the body mass index (BMI): weight (kg)/height² (m²). The body mass index is a surrogate marker of fatness and additional measurements, such as the waist circumference, can help the diagnosis of obesity.

The BMI categories for defining obesity vary by age and gender in infants, children and adolescents.

Adults

For adults, WHO defines overweight and obesity as follows:

overweight is a BMI greater than or equal to 25; and

obesity is a BMI greater than or equal to 30.

For children, age needs to be considered when defining overweight and obesity.

Children under 5 years of age

For children under 5 years of age:

overweight is weight-for-height greater than 2 standard deviations above WHO Child Growth Standards median; and

obesity is weight-for-height greater than 3 standard deviations above the WHO Child Growth Standards median.

Charts and tables: WHO child growth standards for children aged under 5 years

Children aged between 5-19 years

Overweight and obesity are defined as follows for children aged between 5-19 years:

overweight is BMI-for-age greater than 1 standard deviation above the WHO Growth Reference median; and

obesity is greater than 2 standard deviations above the WHO Growth Reference median.

Charts and tables: WHO growth reference for children aged between 5-19 years

Facts about overweight and obesity

In 2022, 2.5 billion adults aged 18 years and older were overweight, including over 890 million adults who were living with obesity. This corresponds to 43% of adults aged 18 years and over (43% of men and 44% of women) who were overweight; an increase from 1990, when 25% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight. Prevalence of overweight varied by region, from 31% in the WHO South-East Asia Region and the African Region to 67% in the Region of the Americas.

About 16% of adults aged 18 years and older worldwide were obese in 2022. The worldwide prevalence of obesity more than doubled between 1990 and 2022.

In 2022, an estimated 37 million children under the age of 5 years were overweight. Once considered a high-income country problem, overweight is on the rise in low- and middle-income countries. In Africa, the number of overweight children under 5 years has increased by nearly 23% since 2000. Almost half of the children under 5 years who were overweight or living with obesity in 2022 lived in Asia.

Over 390 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 years were overweight in 2022. The prevalence of overweight (including obesity) among children and adolescents aged 5-19 has risen dramatically from just 8% in 1990 to 20% in 2022. The rise has occurred similarly among both boys and girls: in 2022 19% of girls and 21% of boys were overweight.

While just 2% of children and adolescents aged 5-19 were obese in 1990 (31 million young people), by 2022, 8% of children and adolescents were living with obesity (160 million young people).

Causes of overweight and obesity

Overweight and obesity result from an imbalance of energy intake (diet) and energy expenditure (physical activity).

In most cases obesity is a multifactorial disease due to obesogenic environments, psycho-social factors and genetic variants. In a subgroup of patients, single major etiological factors can be identified (medications, diseases, immobilization, iatrogenic procedures, monogenic disease/genetic syndrome).

The obesogenic environment exacerbating the likelihood of obesity in individuals, populations and in different settings is related to structural factors limiting the availability of healthy sustainable food at locally affordable prices, lack of safe and easy physical mobility into the daily life of all people, and absence of adequate legal and regulatory environment.

At the same time, the lack of an effective health system response to identify excess weight gain and fat deposition in their early stages is aggravating the progression to obesity.

Common health consequences

The health risks caused by overweight and obesity are increasingly well documented and understood.

In 2019, higher-than-optimal BMI caused an estimated 5 million deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, neurological disorders, chronic respiratory diseases, and digestive disorders (1).

Being overweight in childhood and adolescence affects children's and adolescents' immediate health and is associated with greater risk and earlier onset of various NCDs, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Childhood and adolescent obesity have adverse psychosocial consequences; it affects school performance and quality of life, compounded by stigma, discrimination and bullying. Children with obesity are very likely to be adults with obesity and are also at a higher risk of developing NCDs in adulthood.

The economic impacts of the obesity epidemic are also important. If nothing is done, the global costs of overweight and obesity are predicted to reach US$ 3 trillion per year by 2030 and more than US$ 18 trillion by 2060 (2).

Finally, the rise in obesity rates in low-and middle-income countries, including among lower socio-economic groups, is fast globalizing a problem that was once associated only with high-income countries.

Facing a double burden of malnutrition

Many low- and middle-income countries face a so-called double burden of malnutrition.

While these countries continue to deal with the problems of infectious diseases and undernutrition, they are also experiencing a rapid upsurge in noncommunicable disease risk factors such as obesity and overweight.

It is common to find undernutrition and obesity co-existing within the same country, the same community and the same household.

Children in low- and middle-income countries are more vulnerable to inadequate pre-natal, infant, and young child nutrition. At the same time, these children are exposed to high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt, energy-dense, and micronutrient-poor foods, which tend to be lower in cost but also lower in nutrient quality. These dietary patterns, in conjunction with lower levels of physical activity, result in sharp increases in childhood obesity while undernutrition issues remain unsolved.

Prevention and management

Overweight and obesity, as well as their related noncommunicable diseases, are largely preventable and manageable.

At the individual level, people may be able to reduce their risk by adopting preventive interventions at each step of the life cycle, starting from pre-conception and continuing during the early years. These include:

ensure appropriate weight gain during pregnancy;

practice exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months after birth and continued breastfeeding until 24 months or beyond;

support behaviours of children around healthy eating, physical activity, sedentary behaviours and sleep, regardless of current weight status;

limit screen time;

limit consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and energy-dense foods and promote other healthy eating behaviours;

enjoy a healthy life (healthy diet, physical activity, sleep duration and quality, avoid tobacco and alcohol, emotional self-regulation);

limit energy intake from total fats and sugars and increase consumption of fruit and vegetables, as well as legumes, whole grains and nuts; and

engage in regular physical activity.

Health practitioners need to

assess the weight and height of people accessing the health facilities;

provide counselling on healthy diet and lifestyles;

when a diagnosis of obesity is established, provide integrated obesity prevention and management health services including on healthy diet, physical activity and medical and surgical measures; and

monitor other NCD risk factors (blood glucose, lipids and blood pressure) and assess the presence of comorbidities and disability, including mental health disorders.

The dietary and physical activity patterns for individual people are largely the result of environmental and societal conditions that greatly constrain personal choice. Obesity is a societal rather than an individual responsibility, with the solutions to be found through the creation of supportive environments and communities that embed healthy diets and regular physical activity as the most accessible, available and affordable behaviours of daily life.

Stopping the rise in obesity demands multisectoral actions such as food manufacturing, marketing and pricing and others that seek to address the wider determinants of health (such as poverty reduction and urban planning).

Such policies and actions include:

structural, fiscal and regulatory actions aimed at creating healthy food environments that make healthier food options available, accessible and desirable; and

health sector responses designed and equipped to identify risk, prevent, treat and manage the disease. These actions need to build upon and be integrated into broader efforts to address NCDs and strengthen health systems through a primary health care approach.

The food industry can play a significant role in promoting healthy diets by:

reducing the fat, sugar and salt content of processed foods;

ensuring that healthy and nutritious choices are available and affordable to all consumers;

restricting marketing of foods high in sugars, salt and fats, especially those foods aimed at children and teenagers; and

ensuring the availability of healthy food choices and supporting regular physical activity practice in the workplace.

WHO response

WHO has recognized the need to tackle the global obesity crisis in an urgent manner for many years.

The World Health Assembly Global Nutrition Targets aiming to ensure no increase in childhood overweight, and the NCD target to halt the rise of diabetes and obesity by 2025, were endorsed by WHO Member States. They recognized that accelerated global action is needed to address pervasive and corrosive problem of the double burden of malnutrition.

At the 75 th World Health Assembly in 2022, Member States demanded and adopted new recommendations for the prevention and management of obesity and endorsed the WHO Acceleration plan to stop obesity. Since its endorsement, the Acceleration plan has shaped the political environment to generate impetus needed for sustainable change, created a platform to shape, streamline and prioritize policy, support implementation in countries and drive impact and strengthen accountability at national and global level.
References
1. GBD 2019 Risk Factor Collaborators. "Global Burden of 87 Risk Factors in 204 Countries and Territories, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2019". Lancet. 2020;396:1223-1249.

2. Okunogbe et al., "Economic Impacts of Overweight and Obesity." 2nd Edition with Estimates for 161 Countries. World Obesity Federation, 2022.

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Obesity and overweight fact sheet from WHO providing key facts and information on causes, health consequences, double burden of disease, prevention, WHO response.

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SECOND ARTICLE

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Cancer causes cells to divide uncontrollably. This can result in tumors, damage to the immune system, and other impairment that can be fatal.

In the United States, an estimated 15.5 million people with a history of cancer were living as of January 1, 2016, according to a 2018 report from the American Cancer Society.

In this article, we examine types of cancer, how the disease develops, and the many treatments that help improve the quality of life and survival rates.

Cancer is a broad term. It describes the disease that results when cellular changes cause the uncontrolled growth and division of cells.

Some types of cancer cause rapid cell growth, while others cause cells to grow and divide at a slower rate.

Certain forms of cancer result in visible growths called tumors, while others, such as leukemia, do not.

Most of the body's cells have specific functions and fixed lifespans. While it may sound like a bad thing, cell death is part of a natural and beneficial phenomenon called apoptosis.

A cell receives instructions to die so that the body can replace it with a newer cell that functions better. Cancerous cells lack the components that instruct them to stop dividing and to die.

As a result, they build up in the body, using oxygen and nutrients that would usually nourish other cells. Cancerous cells can form tumors, impair the immune system and cause other changes that prevent the body from functioning regularly.

Cancerous cells may appear in one area, then spread via the lymph nodes. These are clusters of immune cells located throughout the body.

There are many causes of cancer, and some are preventable.

For example, over 480,000 people die in the U.S. each year from smoking cigarettes, according to data reported in 2014.

In addition to smoking, risk factors for cancer include:

Other causes of cancer are not preventable. Currently, the most significant unpreventable risk factor is age. According to the American Cancer Society, doctors in the U.S. diagnose 87 percent of cancer cases in people ages 50 years or older.

Is cancer genetic?

Genetic factors can contribute to the development of cancer.

A person's genetic code tells their cells when to divide and expire. Changes in the genes can lead to faulty instructions, and cancer can result.

Genes also influence the cells' production of proteins, and proteins carry many of the instructions for cellular growth and division.

Some genes change proteins that would usually repair damaged cells. This can lead to cancer. If a parent has these genes, they may pass on the altered instructions to their offspring.

Some genetic changes occur after birth, and factors such as smoking and sun exposure can increase the risk.

Other changes that can result in cancer take place in the chemical signals that determine how the body deploys, or "expresses" specific genes.

Finally, a person can inherit a predisposition for a type of cancer. A doctor may refer to this as having a hereditary cancer syndrome. Inherited genetic mutations significantly contribute to the development of 5-10 percent of cancer cases.

Innovative research has fueled the development of new medications and treatment technologies.

Doctors usually prescribe treatments based on the type of cancer, its stage at diagnosis, and the person's overall health.

The side effects of chemotherapy include hair loss. However, advances in treatment are improving the outlook for people with cancer.

Below are examples of approaches to cancer treatment:

Chemotherapy aims to kill cancerous cells with medications that target rapidly dividing cells. The drugs can also help shrink tumors, but the side effects can be severe.

Hormone therapy involves taking medications that change how certain hormones work or interfere with the body's ability to produce them. When hormones play a significant role, as with prostate and breast cancers, this is a common approach.

Immunotherapy uses medications and other treatments to boost the immune system and encourage it to fight cancerous cells. Two examples of these treatments are checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cell transfer.

Precision medicine, or personalized medicine, is a newer, developing approach. It involves using genetic testing to determine the best treatments for a person's particular presentation of cancer. Researchers have yet to show that it can effectively treat all types of cancer, however.

Radiation therapy uses high-dose radiation to kill cancerous cells. Also, a doctor may recommend using radiation to shrink a tumor before surgery or reduce tumor-related symptoms.

Stem cell transplant can be especially beneficial for people with blood-related cancers, such as leukemia or lymphoma. It involves removing cells, such as red or white blood cells, that chemotherapy or radiation has destroyed. Lab technicians then strengthen the cells and put them back into the body.

Surgery is often a part of a treatment plan when a person has a cancerous tumor. Also, a surgeon may remove lymph nodes to reduce or prevent the disease's spread.

Targeted therapies perform functions within cancerous cells to prevent them from multiplying. They can also boost the immune system. Two examples of these therapies are small-molecule drugs and monoclonal antibodies.

Doctors will often employ more than one type of treatment to maximize effectiveness.

The most common type of cancer in the U.S. is breast cancer, followed by lung and prostate cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute, which excluded nonmelanoma skin cancers from these findings.

Each year, more than 40,000 people in the country receive a diagnosis of one of the following types of cancer:

Other forms are less common. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are over 100 types of cancer.

Cancer development and cell division

Doctors classify cancer by:

its location in the body

the tissues that it forms in

For example, sarcomas develop in bones or soft tissues, while carcinomas form in cells that cover internal or external surfaces in the body. Basal cell carcinomas develop in the skin, while adenocarcinomas can form in the breast.

When cancerous cells spread to other parts of the body, the medical term for this is metastasis.

A person can also have more than one type of cancer at a time.

Improvements in cancer detection, increased awareness of the risks of smoking, and a drop in tobacco use have all contributed to a year-on-year decrease in the number of cancer diagnoses and deaths.

According to the American Cancer Society, the overall cancer death rate declined by 26 percent between 1991 and 2015.

When a person has cancer, the outlook will depend on whether the disease has spread and on its type, severity, and location.

Cancer causes cells to divide uncontrollably. It also prevents them from dying at the natural point in their life cycle.

Genetic factors and lifestyle choices, such as smoking, can contribute to the development of the disease. Several elements affect the ways that DNA communicates with cells and directs their division and death.

After nonmelanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common type in the U.S. However, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death.

Treatments are constantly improving. Examples of current methods include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Some people benefit from newer options, such as stem cell transplantation and precision medicine.

The diagnosis and death rates of cancer are dropping yearly.

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Cancer: Overview, causes, treatments, and types

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Cancer is the uncontrolled development of cells. After heart disease, it is the second most common cause of death in the United States. However, researchers continue to develop treatments that result in improved survival rates. Read on to learn more.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 - Malaysia saw nearly 1,500 cases of open burning and forest fires during the haze season in August and September this year.

Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister Senator Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin told Parliament today that during the period, 763 cases of open burning in estates and 670 cases of forest fires were recorded.

"Johor had registered the highest with a total of 580 cases. In Johor, there were 428 estate fires and 152 forest fires. This is followed by Selangor with a total of 226 cases with 131 estate fires and 95 forest fires.

"Sarawak had 193 total cases with 68 estate fires and 125 forest fires. Sabah saw 179 total cases with 67 estate fires and 112 forest fires.

"This is followed by Perak with 85 total cases with 32 estate fires and 53 forest fires," said Raja Kamarul in his reply to Bukit Bendera (PH) MP Wong Hon Wai during Question Time.

Other states mentioned include Negri Sembilan with 64 total cases (10 estate fires, 54 forest fires), Pahang with 57 cases (14 estate fires, 43 forest fires) and Terengganu with 20 total cases (2 estate fires, 18 forest fires).

The ministry had taken steps to combat open burnings and forest fires by activating the National Open Burning Action Plan and the National Haze Action Plan.

Under the action plans, the Fire and Rescue Services Department were responsible in battling the flames, with 14,600 officers equipped with various assets including helicopters and fire engines.

The ministry also conducted public engagement, education and awareness programmes to ensure that Malaysians avoid open burning.

However, Raja Kamarul said his ministry's hands were tied when it comes to investigating and taking actions against culprits of open burning.

"On taking action against landowners who conduct open burnings, it is beyond the jurisdiction of the ministry.

"Such matters must be referred to the Environment Department because investigations must be done to identify whether or not the fire was started by the landowner, a private party or natural causes," said Raja Kamarul.

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Nearly 1,500 cases of open burning in Malaysia during haze season, says deputy minister | Malay Mail

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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 - Malaysia saw nearly 1,500 cases of open burning and forest fires during the haze season in August and September this year. Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister Senator Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin told Parliament today that during the period, 763 cases of open burning...

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Malaysia river pollution cuts water supply to more than 300,000 people

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PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Hundreds of thousands of people in four districts in the Klang Valley were on Sunday (Oct 4) affected by water-supply cuts due to a river-pollution incident, barely a month after the previous incident raised widespread public anger. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 - The National Security Council (NSC) has agreed to loosen several restrictions on the sports and recreation sector, the Youth and Sports Ministry announced tonight.

In a statement, it said these restrictions will depend on whether an area is under a movement control order (MCO), a conditional movement control order (CMCO) or a recovery movement control order (RMCO).

For those in the MCO phase, non-physical contact activities conducted in open and enclosed areas for health, fitness and self-skill purposes are permitted, with a necessary distance of one- to three-metres between participants.

Travelling to conduct sporting and recreational activities is subject to MCO rules, with the operation of enclosed and semi-closed facilities or premises to be under constant supervisory control.

The organisation of championships, competitions, and matches per the Sports Bubble model is limited to the Malaysian Football League (MFL), the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) and the Sepak Takraw League (STL) without the physical presence of bystanders or supporters.

Similarly, the Centralised Training Programmes in quarantine for MFL, MHL and STL teams must follow the Sports Bubble model where training is either home-based or camp-based. Existing programmes implemented by the National and state Sports Councils will be carried out using camp-based training.

However, all other physical-contact sports and associated matches including competitions and championships are still prohibited under the MCO. Large scale-activities involving the participation of many people, including fun runs, fun rides, marathons, and triathlons, are similarly prohibited.

During the CMCO phase, all forms of individual and team sporting and recreational activities will be permitted for health, fitness, training and match purposes. Similarly, the organisation of domestic championships or competitions is approved by the ministry using the Sports Bubble model.

However, international championships are prohibited without the express approval of the ministry. The physical attendance of bystanders and supporters remain prohibited for all sporting and recreational activities during the CMCO.

Similar, to the MCO, the operation of enclosed and semi-closed facilities or premises must also be placed under constant supervisory control, and travelling to conduct sporting and recreational activities is subject to the movement control order in force.

Large scale-activities involving the participation of many people at a single given time including fun runs, fun rides, marathons, and triathlons are similarly prohibited.

For the RMCO, all sporting and recreational activities involving teams and individuals are permitted for health, fitness, training and match purposes, including the organisation of domestic competitions and championships without the physical attendance of bystanders or supporters.

As with the MCO and CMCO, international championships are prohibited without the ministry's express approval, as is large scale-activities involving the participation of many people at a single given time including fun runs, fun rides, marathons, and triathlons.

All the general standard operating procedures (SOP) and protocols mentioned above are subject to the gazetted rules within the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988, and the various rules related to the MCO, CMCO and RMCO by the Health Ministry and NSC from time to time.

For further information regarding sporting and recreational SOPs, please visit the Youth and Sports Ministry website at http://www.kbs.gov.my/sopsukanrekreasi or contact the Sports and Recreational Sector Operations Room via email at [email protected] or call at 03-8871 3585/3246 from Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.

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Ministry reveals new SOPs for sports and recreational activities | Malay Mail

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KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 - The National Security Council (NSC) has agreed to loosen several restrictions on the sports and recreation sector, the Youth and Sports Ministry announced tonight. In a statement, it said these restrictions will depend on whether an area is under a movement control order...

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Malaysia has a champion in eSports in the Minister of Youth and Sports, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. As the nation's first millennial minister, Syed Saddiq is no stranger to eSports as he, like many of his generation have been exposed to it and are fans of eSport. In this interview, he talks about the big plans the Government has for eSports.

By Sharmila Valli Narayanan

Talk about video games to the older generation and they will frown and say it is another example of the younger generation wasting their time. The older generation will be surprised to learn that the video games have morphed into eSports and is a huge money earner.

According to the website Statista, the global eSports market in 2018 was valued at nearly USD 865 million dollars. This figure is expected to reach USD 1.79 billion in 2022. The website states that in terms of revenues, "Asia and North America represent the two largest eSports markets. While Asia contributed close to half of global eSports market revenue, generating USD 406 million in 2017, the North American market brought in USD 392 million in revenue, followed by the European market at USD 298 million."

Thankfully, Malaysia has the biggest cheerleader for eSports in its Minister of Youth and Sports, Syed Saddiq. His ministry has big plans for turning eSports into a serious sport cum business.

What is your vision related to the growth and development of eSports in Malaysia?

We can look at eSports as a contributor to sports and as an economic generator. In terms of contribution to sports, for the first time in SEA Games history, eSports will be included as a medal tally sport with six gold medals up for grabs! Maybe one day it will probably be accepted as a sport at the Asian Games level and maybe even the Olympics. We must prepare our young athletes to compete at international level in this sport.

We have now included eSports athletes in the Majlis Sukan Malaysia (MSM) programme where they get trained and will represent Malaysia at the international level. There's also a scheme in place where we do eSports development all across Malaysia.

As an economic generator, last year Malaysia hosted one of the biggest eSports tournaments, the Kuala Lumpur Major, which was a Dota 2 tournament, as part of the 2018-2019 Dota Pro-Circuit season.

By hosting this tournament, we showed the world that Malaysia is serious about eSports. The tournament was televised worldwide and the prize money was USD 1 million for a weekend event! The tickets, which were expensive, were sold out and most of the buyers were from overseas.

If we are to look deeper into this, it's not just about creating eSports athletes. Malaysia is ranked 21st in the world in gaming revenue. We're also talking about programming and exporting eSport content overseas as we have some of the best programmers and designers in Malaysia.

Last year, by sheer luck, I met up with Min-Liang Tan, the CEO of Razer, one of the biggest brands in eSports, in Singapore. I tried to convince him to open a Razer office here in Malaysia (Razer's only office outside the US is in Singapore). I told him that the Malaysian Government will give whatever support he needed but he said he was not interested.

Less than six months later, he changed his mind because he realised there was so much conversation about eSports in Malaysia. He also realised that the ground here is very fertile for eSports. After multiple discussions he has finally opened Razer's first office in Malaysia and he has hired 300 young people and invested about RM100 million. On top of that by the end of the year he will invest billions more to start Malaysia's Digital Entertainment City at Jalan Ipoh.

There are many other plans such as this. Imagine, if a multi-billion-dollar company like Razer comes in, then there's a possibility that Sony, Nintendo and the rest will also follow. I can't say anything more at the moment, but watch out for more exciting announcements to come.

What will be some of the challenges facing the eSport industry?

Sustainability is one. The games played in eSports evolve very quickly. What game is 'hot' today will become passé next year. This will be quite complicated, but at the same time, it also means that eSports is so versatile. The room for growth in this field is really big.

Another challenge is addiction and it is a serious issue. Anything that is done too much is bad. Gaming addiction is real. We have addressed this issue in the eSport blueprint which will be launched close to the Malaysia Sports Challenge which will be in October. In the blueprint there's a special section on responsible gaming. We need to cultivate the concept of responsible gaming even more.

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Malaysia has a champion in eSports in the Minister of Youth and Sports, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. As the nation's first millennial minister, Syed Saddiq is no stranger to eSports as he, like many of his generation have been exposed to it and are fans of eSport.

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EMBRACING ONLINE TEACHING DURING THE PANDEMIC

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EMBRACING ONLINE TEACHING DURING THE PANDEMIC

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malaysia education blueprint of higher education 2015-2025

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Embracing online teaching during the pandemic | New Straits Times

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KUALA LUMPUR: The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the education landscape of the country, accelerating the digitisation of higher education.

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A SIGNIFICANT number of graduates face difficulties in finding a job after university because of the mismatch between their education and current industry requirements. With high expectations from employers, students need to choose a university that will equip them with the employability skills so sought after in today's working world.

Since work readiness involves several factors, the development of employability skills cannot be left exclusively to universities; instead, it requires a collaborative effort from multiple stakeholders. The International University of Malaya-Wales (IUMW) is on a mission to meet this challenge.

The Faculty of Communication, Arts & Media (FCAM) at IUMW is leading the way by teaming up with local and global brand names so the faculty can deliver their modules with industry input and influence; dubbed as the "branded syllabus". Students embark on industrial-driven assignments to boost their portfolios and prepare them for the increasingly complex demands of the workplace.

"This effort will bridge the gap between the academic world and industry. Our students will be ready to work the moment they're done with their studies, with a strong portfolio to back up their academic qualification," said Dr Nurul Nisa Omar, head of the faculty.

FCAM offers programmes in Communication, Digital Media and Public Relations & Event Management - dynamic fields with high expectations that require graduates to be on the top of their game.

Organisations involved in the branded syllabus include Lumix of Panasonic, Foreo, BrandGeeks, QWork, and CiliSos, who work with students on modules such as Media Production, Digital Media, Communication Campaigns, and Event Management. Students' work are showcased in faculty exhibitions and on online platforms including YouTube.

"The active involvement of big companies and industry leaders plays a crucial role in grooming our students; enhancing their capabilities so they become productive members of the workforce," said Nurul.

IUMW is a joint venture between the University of Malaya and the University of Wales and offers programmes in arts & social sciences, business, and science & technology.

For more information, visit iumw.edu.my

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A SIGNIFICANT number of graduates face difficulties in finding a job after university because of the mismatch between their education and current industry requirements. With high expectations from employers, students need to choose a university that will equip them with the employability skills so sought after in today's working world.

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malaysian association of tour and travel agents

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2020: Tourism's darkest year | New Straits Times

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KUALA LUMPUR: When the first Economic Stimulus Package was announced on Feb 27, the government acknowledged that the global Covid-19 outbreak had affected local tourism.

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Malaysia Recovery Seen Driven by Tech Upcycle, Vaccines

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Malaysia Recovery Seen Driven by Tech Upcycle, Vaccines