The SFHN Malaysia held its third meeting by Zoom on Wednesday 24th February 2021. The 90-minute meeting was led by Associate Professor Dr Emilia Abidin from the Universiti Putra Malaysia with input from the UK-Malaysia MyFamily MySmoke project partners at the University of Stirling, University Malaysia Terengganu, and the International Islamic University Malaysia. The meeting theme was ‘Growing our Network’ and we were delighted to have a total of 26 members from academia, NGOs, governmental and health departments attend and contribute to the session.
Following a brief update on the progress of the MyFamily MySmoke project the network used the breakout rooms and whiteboard function in Zoom to discuss three key questions:
- What do you want to see happen in relation to Smoke-Free Homes (SFH) in Malaysia by 2030?
- What one policy would you ask the government to implement to increase SFH?
- How do we grow this network to become larger and more influential?
After working in small groups we returned to discuss and share our findings. A brief summary together with images from each breakout group ‘whiteboard’ can be downloaded through the links below.
There was a general consensus that there was a need to denormalise smoking in the home and that this would be achieved through targeted education, mass media and social media campaigns. Suggestions for policy changes were wide ranging with ideas including restrictions on smoke-free apartments (particularly shared flats), smoke-free cars, and setting government backed national targets for reducing the proportion of children exposed to SHS. There are also many opportunities to grow the network and ensure that it continues beyond the life of the MyFamily MySmoke project. These included: working with government ministries interested in health, children and family life; involving a wide range of NGOs and those involved in Malaysian civic society; and working closely with young people particularly through engagement with social media.
Our next SFHNM meeting will be in May/June 2021 with the exact date yet to be arranged. Please contact us if you’d like to be part of the group. Slides and images from the session can be found below.
