How healthy is your diet, really? Do you think you’re doing enough for your health? Well, here’s a stunning statistic: 95% of Malaysians don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables every day. This contributes to the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like anaemia, diabetes and hypertension.
The key to change is education, and QIU’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Steering Committee did its part to make a difference by organising a Healthy Eating Practices Workshop with the Perak state Women’s Development Department (JPW).
The free programme welcomed participants from the local community–who were selected by JPW– to the QIU campus, where they joined in educational seminars and fun health awareness activities.
Conducted by QIU Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences academics Dr Nurul Dayana Mahizir and Dr Bhupinder Kaur, the talks covered the correlation between healthy diets and life quality as well as understanding food labels.
The workshop also challenged participants to create their own food pyramid, while free health screenings like Body Mass Index, glucose and blood pressure tests were also available.
“As an educational institution, it is our duty to spread useful information among the community at large. This is part of our commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals,” said Dr Bhupinder, who also heads QIU’s sustainability initiative.
The programme was incredibly well-received by the participants, who called the lessons they learned “priceless”.
“We felt at home because everyone at QIU welcomed us with care and love. We learned a lot, and we can’t wait for the next series!” said Ms Nor Rofeah Abdullah Sani.
