Group photo of the organizing committee, university staffs and the guests of honours who came for the opening ceremony

Did you know that physical activity, having less stress, eating right, smoking less and managing your weight all have an impact on cancer? 

These are the words from none other than Dr B. Venugopalan, Deputy State Health Director of Selangor. 

'I congratulate the students and the faculties' courage in tackling cancer,' Dr Venugopalan said in his speech at the launch of the18th Annual Public Health Campaign 2019 at Pusat Rekreasi JKKK Batu 11 Cheras. 

Organised by the UCSI University Pharmacy Student Association (UCSIUPSA) of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, over one thousand one hundred sixteen participants attended the event, held on the weekends of 13-14 and 20-21 July. 

For this year, the theme was 'Cancer: Be Aware, Prevent, Take Action'. 

Dr B. Venugopalan emphasised on the prevention and management of cancer by living a healthy lifestyle which includes diet modification, exercising, abstaining from smoking and alcohol. 

'Get moving; physical activity has an impact on cancer. 

'Eat right - keep in mind of the chemicals that are included in your food and manage your weight. And don't smoke, as smoking has chemicals as well. Smokers always say 'what's wrong with smoking, if we die, we die'. However, when they are inflicted with lung cancer, they would go to the ends of the Earth to find a cure. 

'Mental health is also essential, and prolonged stress has an impact on cancer. We are not so sure how, but prolonged stress in an individual can make a person liable to cancer. 

'The other issues we need to look into are environmental issues. How is our food grown? The use of pesticides in our vegetables and antibiotics in poultry is proven to be carcinogenic, and we must be made aware of the quality of air and water that we inhale and consume. Chronic exposure to harmful chemical fumes does lead to higher uptakes of cancer". 

‘There have also been three instances where three people have recovered from cancer. The first one is hepatitis B immunisation as a cancer prevention strategy, which we administer at birth. The second is nasopharyngeal carcinoma or nose cancer, and HPV vaccination has been proven to reduce the cause of cancer with the female population as well’. 

In his opening speech, UCSI University Vice-Chancellor and President Academician Senior Professor Dato' Dr Khalid Yusoff commended on the extraordinary effort by UCSI University's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences to promote public health awareness and cancer in the community.

"We all have what is called the metastasis gene, which is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body," he elaborated. 

'We need to find out what causes cancer to proliferate. We have groups of researchers working on these issues. Lastly, we need to work out how to reduce the cost and price of treating cancer.

'Malaysia is a small country where drug companies won't give much attention - but if ASEAN countries were to unite together, we might have a chance to renegotiate with the drug companies to reduce the cost of the drugs. 

'This is the war on cancer. First, identify and reduce the causes of cancer, and secondly, help patients in terms of cancer treatment and medicine costs. 

'We are taking several campaigns for people to understand this. I very much encourage the Faculty's students to take the advantage to talk about cancer to the public this time around; it is a crucial topic. 

'We are also thankful for the presence of our guest of honour Dr B. Venugopalan, in fighting against this war that we cannot fail,' he declared. 

About 40 UCSI university pharmacy students were present in running the programme.

The recognisable pink truck from the Breast Cancer Welfare Association Malaysia was also present in conducting screening tests such as the clinical breast examination and colorectal cancer with home test kits.

Presenting facts to raise awareness on cancer in an interactive way to the public, the campaign included various health screening tests such as such as the waist-to-hip ratio measurement, blood pressure tests, body fat tests and blood glucose tests as well as appropriate patient counselling from qualified pharmacists, who are also lecturers of the University, to enable the public to assume responsibility for their own health. 

 A poster exhibition that focused mainly on breast cancer, colon cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, corresponding with the theme of the campaign was also on display. 

The feedback was very positive as every screening tests were free and done by the trained pharmacy students professionally. 

'I trust that this annual public health campaign will be one of the stepping stones needed to educate and instill awareness within the members of the public. May this raise awareness and encourage the early detection of cancer and subsequently improve the overall public health in Malaysia'. 

Also present at the launch was YB Wong Siew Ki (ADUN Balakong), Associate Professor Dr Yeong Siew Wei, Advisor to UCSI University Annual Public Health Campaign, Assistant Professor Dr. Mogana Sundari A/P Rajagopal, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Yang Berbahagia Madam Wong Siew Ki and Edward So, representatives of the MPKK Kampung Baru Batu Sebelas Cheras and Datin Matron Zainab bt. Abdullah, the representative of Breast Cancer Welfare Association Malaysia.