The Health Ministry is discussing 13 key policies to promote a healthier living environment for implementation in 2018 and 2019. This campaign is focused on fighting the rise in NCDs or non-communicable diseases.

NCDs are conditions caused as a direct result of lifestyle and environmental factors. They are long-term and chronic diseases that rob affected people of many productive years of their life, eventually resulting in death in most cases. These include lung diseases, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

A disturbing trend in the last decade has been the consistent rise in NCDs on a global level. Things are no different back in Malaysia.

According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015, more than 17 percent of Malaysians are suffering from diabetes, 30 percent from hypertension and 47 percent from high cholesterol levels.

With this alarming trend, I welcome the government’s initiative to promote an active lifestyle and healthy diet among Malaysians.

However, I believe that one should lead by example.

Therefore, before introducing the new health policies for the wellbeing of the people, I suggest that the policymakers first set an example of showcasing a healthy lifestyle.

After all, a healthy nation begins with a healthy government, does it not?

I have taken the liberty to list down 13 new health policies recommended for the government:

1. Health screening reports and BMI (body mass index) assessment of all cabinet ministers must be published every month in all leading media. Every member of the cabinet should learn to improve their own lifestyle before advising others to fix theirs....