KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Malaysians who lead sedentary lifestyles may soon face higher taxes when the government increases its spending on public health programmes, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.
The youth and sports minister urged Malaysians to improve their fitness level in a reminder that an unhealthy lifestyle affects everyone as taxpayers would eventually have to foot the bill for chronic lifestyle diseases that are on the rise.
“Ultimately, who will pay for all of this? Who will pay for this sedentary lifestyle? Who will pay for these non-communicable diseases that are on the uptrend?” he asked rhetorically at the launch of Garmin's fitness watches here.
“Eventually, taxpayers will have to pay for it. The government will have to fork out an increased public health bill because we have to treat many, many more people who have these non-communicable lifestyle diseases whether at 50, whether at 60, even now earlier on, people in their 40s, 30s have these non-communicable diseases,” he said.
News wire AFP reported last November that Malaysia was Southeast Asia’s fattest country, where a nationwide foodie culture is feeding mounting concern over what its health minister calls “an obesity epidemic.”
“We are the most obese nation in Southeast Asia, and Malaysians are becoming more and more obese,” Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam told AFP, warning of a “crisis in unhealthy behaviour.”
Nearly 45 per cent of Malaysian men and almost half of women are overweight or obese, according to a 2013 study by UK medical journal Lancet, compared to global rates of around 30 per cent.
Khairy added that Malaysia could become a “sporting nation” if its people were more fit.
According to AFP, a recent report by consultants McKinsey Global Institution found obesity now costs the global economy US$2 trillion (RM7.39 trillion) in healthcare and lost productivity — or 2.8 per cent of global GDP — just US$100 billion less than both smoking and armed conflict. The study warned almost half of the world’s adult population will be overweight or obese by 2030 and called for a “coordinated response” from governments, retailers and food and drink manufacturers.
In Malaysia, childhood obesity rates also are climbing, from less than 10 per cent a decade ago to nearly 14 per cent in 2008, according to the most recent figures, saddling health systems with a new generation of diabetes, hypertension and other obesity-related illnesses
Already, some 2.6 million adults have diabetes, a figure authorities expect to spike to 4.5 million in 2020. Malaysia has a population of around 29 million.
