I mentioned in my previous column that we can expect a higher allocation for health in Budget 2023 which is to be re-tabled by the new government on Feb 24. This will certainly be welcomed by everyone, not just the health ministry.

However, I hope the health ministry spends more money on public health – in preventing the emergence of diseases and helping people develop stronger immune systems – than in fighting diseases. In the past, the focus has been on spending to manage or cure diseases.

It will be a sad and sorry tale of our progress if we simply keep building more and more facilities to treat diseases and making or buying more and more drugs to ensure disease stability or disease management.

I’m not saying the government should pay less attention to ensuring healthcare and access to quality healthcare.

I’m saying that while doing this, the government must give greater emphasis to the longer term need to help people be healthy and stay healthy. I’m saying the current imbalance in allocations to public health and curative care needs to be addressed.

For instance, it was reported that in 2019, only 6.8% of the total health expenditure went to public health services such as health promotion and prevention.

Also, I’m not saying the government isn’t aware of this. It is, and that is why in 2021 it set aside RM5 billion for public health education and increased the figure to RM5.2 billion the following year. I’m saying awareness alone is not enough and that the amount needs to be substantially increased.

In tandem with the increase, the ministry needs to plug leakages – including corrupt practices, especially in procurement – and manage the allocation prudently and optimally. It should seriously act on recommendations of the auditor-general, who, in 2021 for instance, recommended that the ministry draw up a comprehensive policy on the procurement and management of medical equipment, including a maintenance and replacement plan, to prevent losses.

But the focus, as I keep repeating, should shift to creating health. The government should get all ministries involved – in a whole of government approach – to improve the health of citizens. There must be an overarching policy that public health should be the underlying factor in socioeconomic and development planning and implementation.

Local authorities can play a crucial role in health creation because they are in charge of planning and implementing at the grassroots level. Government policy should dictate that public health must be taken into consideration in whatever development plans city and local councils consider or approve.

For instance, in approving any housing project, they must ensure that the developer has made adequate provisions for healthy living. This includes population density, the size of rooms, sanitation and open spaces.

Nutrition is a major issue, especially for the poor, so the government should look at incentivising health food stores to also have branches in low-income areas or for grocery stores in such areas to stock up on healthy options.

The emphasis should be on preventing diseases, creating liveable communities, factoring environmental hazards into planning and implementation, and health education, especially related to personal hygiene and nutrition.

When I was schooling, we had a subject called “Hygiene” where we learnt the importance of being healthy and staying clean.

Today some aspects of health education have been incorporated into the physical exercise subject. But I think that is not enough. It’s time to upgrade it into a subject by itself, perhaps with the name “Healthy Living”.

Students can be taught about nutrition, healthy eating habits and how to handle minor home accidents, fevers and such. Perhaps they can even be taught how to look out for symptoms that something is wrong with the body.

I would even go so far as to suggest that simple traditional healing methods using kitchen and garden ingredients be taught to students as part of this subject.

Students should also be taught how to manage stress and anger, and how to cope with school and work-life challenges. The module should also contain elements which will teach them to rely on science-based solutions to problems and not untested quick fixes shared on social media.

It is vitally important that this subject be taught in a fun, hands-on manner if it is to succeed. There should be no examination, just class assignments. These can include interviewing the oldest residents in their area, doctors and fitness instructors and then discussing it in class.

Health and environment experts – including doctors, psychologists, nutritionists, traditional healers and fitness instructors – should be invited to talk to students frequently.

Schools should also encourage students to join the red crescent society to learn first-aid techniques, life-saving skills and methods of handling an emergency.

Students should be taught that health is wealth. For indeed it is.

Next: Time to drop over-dependence on drugs, hospitals

Part 1: Don’t just fight disease, create health

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.