If you’re a smoker, there’s a strong chance you puffed on your first stick at the age of 18 or even younger. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, nearly 9 out of 10 smokers start before the age of 18, and every adult who dies early because of smoking is replaced by two new young smokers. This is why Malaysia’s “Generational Endgame”, which aims to ban the sale of cigarettes for a new generation, could finally see a significant reversal of the smoking trend in the country. We speak to consultant psychiatrist Assoc Prof Dr Amer Siddiq bin Amer Nordin, and two ex-smokers, on what gets young people hooked on smoking, and what it really takes for smokers to overcome the addiction.

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What do couples in lockdown, and those who were separated during the last two years, have in common? They’ve all been affected in some way by the pandemic. Rozy Khalid, a counsellor trained in family therapy, joins us to look at how intimate relationships have been strained or strengthened during the pandemic, the impact of relationship problems on our mental health, and how couples can move forward.

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After two years of a continuous battle against COVID-19, the Ministry of Health now finds itself with a backlog of more than 50,000 non-COVID procedures. How will this impact the health of patients and the incidence of non-communicable diseases in our population? How can our healthcare system cope, and what role can private hospitals play? Here to discuss this are Prof Dr Rosmawati Mohamed, consultant hepatologist and Master of the Academy of Medicine Malaysia, and Dr Kamal Amzan, CEO, Gleneagles Hospital Medini Johor.

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Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently said that more than a million of senior citizens aged 60 and above have not gotten their COVID-19 booster. With the Omicron wave upon us, older adults remain a high risk group for developing severe COVID, so what’s fuelling this hesitancy? Why is it important for them to get the booster jab? Consultant geriatrician Dr Terence Ong from University Malaya Medical Centre weighs in.

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In 2021, Malaysia recorded the lowest number of dengue cases since the last decade. It’s been a hard-won victory, with dengue proving stubbornly persistent within the community for past decades. However, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has also cautioned that cases may spike again in the next five-year cycle. What do we need to learn from our recent achievements in bringing down dengue cases, and what control measures need to be ramped up to ensure we don’t repeat the same mistakes? In this Public Health episode with Azrul Mohd Khalib, we get senior consultant paediatrician Prof Dr Lucy Lum to reflect on the evolution of dengue over the decades, and whether vaccines and mosquito control will help us win the endgame against dengue.

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“Every illness is unique, which means that all recoveries must also be, in some sense, unique. There is no one-size-fits-all to getting better,” wrote an NHS GP Dr Gavin Francis in The Guardian. We ask consultant orthopaedic surgeon Dr Rajesh Singh what recovery means in his discipline, where a person’s process of healing can be eclipsed by physical objective measurements of recovery post-injury or surgery.

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For too long, lung cancer has been burdened by its reputation of poor survival and outcomes for patients. But treatment of lung cancer has come a long way since the days when only surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy was available. There are now advancements in diagnostic and treatment methods, which can save more lives than ever. We speak to Prof Dr Pathmanathan Rajadurai, Consultant Pathologist; and Dr Matin Mellor Abdullah, Consultant Clinical Oncologist about game-changers in lung cancer treatment, and how to ensure patients are able to access them.

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This World Cancer Day marks the start of a new 3-year campaign under the theme “Close the Care Gap”, and to realise where the problem lies in the inequities to cancer care. Prof Dr Teo Soo Hwang, Chief Scientific Officer from Cancer Research Malaysia joins us to discuss how cancer research can help to close that gap and what lies ahead for Cancer Research Malaysia in 2022.

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Malaysia’s healthcare system has been ranked as among the best in the world, but a great healthcare system means nothing if people can’t access healthcare services. On this first episode of our new series, we go back to the starting point with access to primary care. What does the state of primary care look like in Malaysia? What role can - or should - family doctors and community pharmacists play to tackle the burden of disease in the community? Family medicine specialist Dr Emma Fazilah Zulkifli, and co-chairperson of the Community Pharmacy Chapter of the Malaysian Pharmacists Society Datin Mariani Ahmad Nizarudin joins us to share their experiences.

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Chinese New Year is around the corner, and the onslaught of festive goodies has begun. Following the previous year of muted celebrations, are we in for some revenge eating as we catch up on two years’ worth of kuih kapit, kuih bangkit and pineapple tarts? Dr George Lee joins us to ask nutritionist Dr Tee E Siong about the calorie count of our favourite CNY cookies, and whether festive eating can equate to healthy eating.

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