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Malaysian Medical Students rally behind World Health Day

09 May 2013

9 -10 April 2013 – 55 Semester 2 medical students from IMU organised several health awareness activities in conjunction with World Health Day at the University’s campus in Bukit Jalil. These activities were focused on the causes and consequences of high blood pressure (also known as hypertension), which is the theme for this year’s World Health Day. World Health Day is a global campaign held every year on 7 April to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1948. Each year’s theme highlights a priority area of concern for WHO.

BLood-Pressure-Check Challenge

Led by Organising Chairman, Brandon Loo Eu Vin and Assistant Organising Chairman, Sadamini Weeraratna, activities that were organised for the IMU event included free blood pressure checks, fat analysis and an interactive quiz that tests the participants’ knowledge about high blood pressure. The free blood pressure checks and fat analysis booths attracted 113 people, out of which 98% were IMU students, 1% were stimulated patients, 0.5% were IMU staff and 0.5% were outsiders. Those who attended the quiz were quite knowledgeable about high blood pressure with 80.2% of them scoring 6 or above and 26.7% getting the full score. During the two days, information about high blood pressure was shown on a projector screen. A video was also played to remind people of the dangers of stress and high blood pressure.  Another interesting activity on this occasion was the Stress Wall. This Wall is a wall decorated with colorful papers which were used to let out each participant’s frustrations and stress by writing on these papers.

Organising Chairman, Brandon Loo Eu Vin said “A big thank you goes out to my batch-mates in ME2/12. Every outcome achieved with World Health Day 2013, we achieved together, and I am so proud of how their support and participation shaped this event. When I made the call for their assistance in organising this event, the response was nothing short of overwhelming. My team displayed a level of cooperation as well as individual creativity and innovation that truly goes above and beyond my expectations. This year, we took a momentous step towards making the World Health Day an annual affair within the fraternity of IMU. While hypertension was the theme our World Health Day this year, in my opinion, a crucial lesson we should take from this is that we really need to arm ourselves with information and evaluate our lifestyles because disease is an uphill battle that worsens with age. Every shred of awareness makes all the difference. Working together to spread that awareness, while enjoying ourselves, is what this event is all about.”

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