“Cancer does not take as many lives as cardiovascular diseases. Women also tend to dismiss pain more easily than men and generally have a higher pain threshold.”
Azhari said the latest 2011 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS IV) had revealed that Malaysian women had the highest body mass index (BMI) in Southeast Asia.
“Obesity is the harbinger of many conditions,” he said. “The NHMS IV study reports that out of 17,000 women surveyed, 29.4 percent were overweight while 15 percent were obese.”
The study’s results have highlighted what health professionals say is the need to boost women’s health education in order to prevent heart disease and other preventable diseases.
“We are continuing our efforts to push new modes of teaching within the ministry and through the public, including in schools,” said health consultant for the ministry of health Mariam Arashi.
She told Bikyamasr.com that “the growing number of women who are dying from heart disease shouldn’t happen and this is the responsibility of us in the government to get the numbers to drop through education.”
She argued that exercise and other preventative measures can be taken by women to reduce their risk.
“It’s all about getting them to know what they can do to help their bodies,” she added.
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