General

Once, hospitals were among the most dangerous places to be in. Patients lost their lives due to infections acquired in hospitals. Then an infectious disease physician made it his life’s work to introduce hand hygiene as a standard of care in hospitals.In conjunction with World Hand Hygiene Day, Prof Didier Pittet, Director, Infection Control Programme, University of Geneva Hospitals – a global authority on hand hygiene – joins us from Switzerland, to sharing journey of getting healthcare workers to wash their hands, and how that paved the way for hand hygiene being the norm this pandemic. Prof Pittet has also been Lead Adviser of the WHO First Global Patient Safety Challenge “Clean Care is Safe Care”, since 2004.

Image source: WHO Save Lives: Clean Your Hands Campaign 

 A new landmark global report titled "What We Waste" takes an in-depth look at how single use plastic, metal and glass beverage packaging is being wasted at ever-increasing rates around the world. It is a story which is particularly concerning in countries with inadequate waste management systems, but there are countries who are leading the way, showing the world that there are circular economy models for managing reusable and recyclable resources. We explore the findings of this new report with Von Hernandez, the Global Coordinator of the Break Free from Plastic movement, and discuss the global direction needed, to reverse the plastic pollution crisis and avert catastrophic climate change.

Image source: Break Free From Plastic's Facebook

Malaysia’s first Information Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) was recently published, and identifies information needs, gaps, dynamics, and impact among youths and marginalised communities. Done by Internews, in collaboration with the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), the report aims to reveal “deeply local information” which is then used to seek a human-centered understanding of how people and communities find, share, value, trust and produce information in their own local contexts. We find out more from Nadiah Rosli and Hanani Wan Alkamar Shah, who are both Project Directors with Internews in Malaysia, and co-authors of the IEA report.

Image source: Information Ecosystem Assessment - Malaysia

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, we have changed many of our behaviours to help prevent transmission of the virus. But in the second year of the pandemic, some of us are starting to feel “COVID fatigue” and are struggling in our efforts to stay vigilant against the virus. We get some advice on how you can motivate yourself and those around you to continue to stay safe from COVID-19. This is an edited recording of the first BFM Health & Living webinar* – this webinar series is presented by AIA, enabling healthier, longer, better lives. 

* Download the e-sharing kit for the webinar here (before 12 May 2021) to stand a chance to win the lucky draw.

Should AI be used to “resurrect” musicians who are no longer with us? What if it’s to shine a light on mental health? An organization called ‘Over The Bridge’ has used AI to create new songs for wildly popular artists who also happened to die young, and the results are strange, uncanny, and also quite beautiful. The effort hopes to raise awareness for mental health particularly in the arts, by focusing on what could have been had these artists gotten the help that they needed. 

Stand up comedy is known to be specifically a male-dominated industry. Joanne Kam, however, managed to go against the current and earned the title of Malaysia’s Queen of Comedy with her bold and raunchy comedic nature. She has done radio, comedy and quite recently her roast pork business. We talk to her today on her journey of being a comedian, how she started her business and how she stays relevant in today’s technological day and age.

One of the best parts of going somewhere new is tasting something new, so what if you could be culinarily transported to the likes of Germany, Norway, and even Indonesia through the wonderful world of cheese? Dexter Lim, co-founder of D’Artisan Cheese, discusses his leap into entrepreneurship from property investment, the wide and kooky variety of products he offers, and what sets his cheese apart from the grocery store staples.

Year-to-date, the FBM Small Cap Index is up about 10%, outperforming the broader KLCI. But small caps typically also display more volatility, so what kind of strategies can we employ in this area? We speak to X for more insight.

Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) company Invest Energy Group wants to invest RM2.2 billion in the region over the next 5-7years in renewable energy projects, aiming to reach a generating capacity of up to 750MW. What's the plan to achieve this and where is this funding coming from?

Also, with data centres increasing looking to renewable energy, will Invest Energy be looking for opportunities with Microsoft as they plan to build a data centre region in Malaysia?

Roshan Kanesan dives into this and more on The Breakfast Grille.

Image Credit: Invest Energy

Recently, it came to light that the accreditation for more than 20 courses under LimKokWing University have been revoked. Teo Nie Ching, Kulai MP and former Deputy Education Minister discusses the implications and how students can better protect themselves before enrolling into universities.

Image Credit: Nirat.pix | Shutterstock.com