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• Mental Health at Schools (Minda Sihat)
The Healthy Mind Program in Schools has been implemented in 2,343 secondary schools throughout
Malaysia since 2011. In this program, Form 4 students are screened using the DASS (Depression,
Anxiety, and Stress) questionnaire to measure the current prevalence of DASS within the students.
Students found to have severe and very severe DASS will go through an intervention where a series
of counselling and motivation workshops are conducted by trained counsellors. The second screening
process is done again after the intervention to look for reduction in DASS. If the level of stress, anxiety
and depression is found to be high, the students will be referred to counselling services or to health
clinics for further treatment by family health specialists.

MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION
• World Health Day 2017 & World Mental Health Day 2017
World Health Day, celebrated on 7 April every year to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World
Health Organization, provides a unique opportunity to mobilize action around a specific health topic of
concern to people all over the world. The theme of 2017 World Health Day campaign was ‘Depression
Let’s Talk’.

World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the overall objective of raising
awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.

• Sweat off Depression and Anxiety, Mental Health Promotion in Collaboration with the NGOs
The Sweat off Depression & Anxiety (SODA) launch in conjunction with the World Mental Health Day
at Management and Science University (MSU) was coordinated by the MSU School of Education and
Social Sciences (SESS) Counselling and Guidance Club with MyPerintis MySchool of Life, and partners
the Ministry of Health Malaysia, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Blood Centre, National Kidney
Foundation, Malaysian Mental Health Association (MMHA), Light Up, National Cancer Society Malaysia,
and National Transplant Resource Centre. The programme theme was “Purposeful Lifestyles, Youth
Empowerment”. Activities lined up for the day included talks on relaxation technique; standing up and
speaking up, breaking the stigma of mental illness; and personal battles.

ALCOHOL AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION

The NCD national targets for Malaysia by year 2025 have included reduction of harmful use of alcohol
as one of the nine voluntary global targets indicator for the prevention and control of NCDs. The
prevention and minimizing the harmful effect of alcohol programme has been initiated since year 2014
nationwide involving screening and brief intervention programme (SBIRT: Screening, Brief intervention
Refer to Therapy) targeted at pockets of population such as in Sabah, Sarawak, indigenous population
and Indian community in estates. As to date, there are 225 health clinics identified implementing this
programme. This screening and intervention programme also been done at community level. In 2017,
total of 225 health clinics in 92 localities has implemented this program.

PREVALENCE OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AMONG THE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
IN MALAYSIA- DATA FROM ADOLESCENT HEALTH SURVEY (AHS 2017)

Adolescent Health Survey (AHS) 2017 has been conducted by the Public Health Institute in 2017.
The survey showed that the prevalence of current drinker among the secondary school students was
10.2 per cent which is 1.3 per cent higher than the findings in Global School Health Survey (GSHS)

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