HEART diseases are Malaysian men’s number one health problem, said Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

Dzulkefly said this is caused by their lifestyle choices.

“There are diseases that are unique to males, particularly pertaining to their lifestyles. And here, we talk about smoking as something that they have to attend to, then, of course, cancer.

“Besides cancer, number one is the cardiovascular diseases, particularly the ischemic heart diseases,” he said at the men’s health conference at Universiti Malaya today.

Other top killers are pneumonia and transport accidents, according to the ministry’s recent statistics.

“One is ischemic heart diseases (smoking, heart attacks), two is pneumonia, transport accidents and fourth is cardiovascular diseases (stroke, brain), then lung cancer by way of ranking from the ministry’s statistics.”

Director of the Disease Control Division, Dr Chong Chee Kheong said Malaysian men tend to ignore their health issues until it is too late.

“Of course, if you look at men’s health, the diseases are due to modifiable risk factors, unlike aging which we cannot modify.

“But risk factors are like smoking, physical activities, unhealthy diet, and the whole range of things that we have been trying to discourage since the 1990s.”

For smoking, Chong said the ministry recently introduced new measures for rehabilitation.

“In fact by rehabilitation, our latest is in collaboration with the private sector which is mQuit.

“mQuit is a network of like-minded agencies where to help those who want to stop smoking.”

The service is available at all health clinics and 15 partners, he said.

He added that it is important for men to realise the importance of their health as it also affects their family members. – August 13, 2018.