Public Relations

27 posts

WHO releases noncommunicable diseases Gallup report

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, launched a new report on 21 September 2022 calling on global leaders to take urgent action on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), responsible for 17 million premature deaths every year. Gallup released a new survey commissioned by WHO and Bloomberg Philanthropies that found most respondents in five surveyed countries – including Colombia, India, Jordan, the United Republic of Tanzania and the United States of America rank an NCD or NCD risk factor as the biggest health problem in their country. NCDs cause nearly three-quarters of deaths worldwide. Every year, 17 million people under the age of 70 die of NCDs, 86 percent of whom live in low- and middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the NCD burden by delaying and disrupting care, and in the early months of the pandemic, 75 percent of countries reported disruption to essential NCD services because of lockdown restrictions and channeling of resources. While every Member State of the United Nations has committed to reducing premature death from NCDs by one-third by 2030 – an effort that could save millions of lives – few countries are currently on track to achieve it. Urgent global efforts are needed to get back on track to reach Sustainable Development Goal targets and reduce premature deaths from NCDs. “Noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease, and cancer are the world’s biggest silent killers – but they can often be prevented with investment in proven, cost-effective interventions. I look forward to continuing to make life-saving investments in NCD and injury prevention alongside Dr Tedros and the WHO.” — Michael R. Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries. Read the full article here: https://www.asiafitnesstoday.com/heads-of-state-commit-to-noncommunicable-disease-global-compact-to-save-50-million-lives-by-2030/

Statement on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation

Dame Louise Martin, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation said: “It is with profound sorrow that we learn of the passing of our Patron, Her Majesty The Queen. Throughout her long life and reign, her extraordinary dedication and service to the Commonwealth has been an inspiration to so many, including all our Commonwealth Games athletes and officials. Her Majesty’s vision for the Commonwealth as a diverse and united family of nations will continue to inspire us – and will remain our mission and duty for the benefit of all athletes and communities, through the power of sport. Our thoughts and prayers are with His Majesty The King, The Queen Consort and all members of the Royal Family as we join with citizens across the Commonwealth in mourning her loss at this very sad time.” — This message has been published in Asia Fitness Today and Australia Fitness Today from a statement received from The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), the organisation that is responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games, and for delivering on the vision of the Commonwealth Sports Movement: through sport, we build peaceful, sustainable and prosperous communities across the Commonwealth.

Five awards up for grabs for equality and diversity prototypes in Malaysia’s TVET

Skills Challenge Innovation Call The ILO’s 1st Malaysia Skills Challenge Innovation Call searches for innovative ideas and solutions to enhance gender equality and social inclusion in TVET and training institutions. Press release | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 29 July 2022 The ILO’s Skills for Prosperity Programme in Malaysia, funded by the UK government, co-organizes the challenge call with the Department of Skills Development (DSD) of Malaysia’s Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS). The call seeks to recognize Malaysian champions of integrating gender equality and social inclusion into TVET or skills training programmes. It also aims to create positive spill-over effects to other institutions. The call is looking for solutions that improve the promotion and accessibility of programmes for vulnerable groups and put in place inclusive policies to decrease the likelihood of dropouts. Solutions can also include ideas that enhance the engagement of students and trainees and strengthen career and vocational guidance and counselling services. Five winning places are up for grabs. Each winning proposal will get a seed grant of up to US$20,000 and technical support to transform their ideas into prototypes ready for implementation and then sharing with other institutions in Malaysia and beyond. The winners will also have a chance to join the ILO Skills Innovation Network to share ideas and experiences with other innovators around the world and collaborate with them to develop and scale their innovations. The deadline for applications is 17 August 2022. The winners will be announced on 9 September 2022. Many institutions interested in the contest today joined an e-townhall meeting and an online workshop that provided orientation about the challenge call and the development of their proposals. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (ILO News / PRNewsGIG) – The International Labour Organization (ILO) today kicked off the 1st Malaysia Skills Challenge Innovation Call, searching for innovative and sustainable solutions that promote gender equality and social inclusion in public and non-profit technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and skills training institutions. Panudda Boonpala, ILO Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, said: “As we are finally moving to the endemic stage of COVID-19, promoting gender equality and social inclusion in TVET and skills training can help us better achieve a human-centred recovery and inclusive growth.” She added that it will contribute to the 12th Malaysia Plan’s objective of “a Prosperous, Inclusive, Sustainable Malaysia”. Ms Panudda added that the diversity of talents brought by gender equality and social inclusion will promote innovation and enhance productivity for further growth. “This will also accelerate the utilization of digital technologies and enable TVET to fulfil its role as a game-changer for improving the TVET ecosystem to produce future-ready talent”, said Ms Panudda. David Wallace, Deputy High Commissioner of the British High Commission Malaysia, said: “Investing in education for more inclusivity is not only morally important, but makes sense economically. As the working landscape continues to evolve, vocational and skills training is a key way in which we can ensure women and people with disabilities are part of this change.” Mr Wallace added that he hopes the UK-Malaysia Skills for Prosperity Partnership will help improve jobs and livelihoods for Malaysians, particularly those from economically and socially disadvantaged groups. “The UK is keen to continue this rewarding partnership to support Malaysia’s transition to become a high-income economy in a sustainably and inclusively way,” said Mr Wallace. Mohamad bin Sulaiman, Deputy Director General (Development) of the Department of Skills Development, said: “Department of Skills Development, Ministry of Human Resources strongly supports the 1st Malaysia Skills Challenge Innovation Call, in view of its importance in promoting accessibility in technical and vocational education and training and significant contribution in improving gender equality and social inclusion in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the 12th Malaysia Plan.” Referring to the challenge call, Azmi Ahmad, Deputy Director of Skills, Youth Skills Development Division, Ministry of Youth and Sports said: “It will be a platform to search for TVET and skills training institutions which develop and implement innovative approaches and solutions that promote equality and diversity in each organization and training programmes.” Interested institutions can submit the application form along with a 90-second video, curriculum vitae of team members and a technical proposal that states objectives, outputs, key activities, an implementation structure, a list of partners, a monitoring and evaluation plan, a work plan and a detailed budget. The implementation of the winning solutions will take place from October 2022 to February 2023. ————— Ends —————- Further enquiries: Please feel free to contact: Ms. Jasmine Low, GoInternationalGroup, ILO Consultant, via e-mail: low@ilo.org and carbon copy to Ms. Shaza Onn, Senior Project Officer, SfP Malaysia, ILO, alauddinonn@ilo.org and Dr. Junichi Mori, Senior Technical Advisor, SfP Malaysia, ILO, jmori@ilo.org.

How podcasts are taking over Asia – airasia.com

Kerry-Ann Augustin, Senior Writer at airasia interviews GIG co-founders, Jasmine Low & Nikki Yeo about their podcasting experience. View the published article on airasia’s website. Kerry-Ann Augustin: You’ve been working on three different podcasts – Asia Fitness Today’s Kurang Manis, Move8 … what triggered the idea behind each of them? Jasmine Low: In February 2019, I had won a second prize from the Motion Picture Association International Script-to-Screen Workshop Malaysia for KURANG MANIS (Sugar, Less), a documentary about six Malaysians who bare all about their hopes and dreams about New Malaysia and what it means to be amongst one in two Malaysians who are obese. The prize was a trip to attend the Australian International Documentary Conference in Melbourne in March 2020. We attended this and learnt so much about factual content-making, and it also opened our minds about content distribution. Although Kurang Manis was to be a film project, MCO lockdowns in Malaysia and filming restrictions meant that co-producer Nikki and I had to improvise and to launch the documentary as a podcast first. This is an impact project inspired by our own health, spurred on by national health statistics that show Malaysia’s alarming figures of increasing non-communicable diseases and the objective of the project is to entertain while educating Malaysians about nutrition and sedentary lifestyles. So we buckled down, and self-funded and produced the first season of Help! I’m Prediabetic! The Kurang Manis (Sugar, Less) Podcast which rolled out on 9th February 2021. Our first season includes an impressive list of guests; 2020 Australian of the Year, Ophthalmologist and Chairman of Sight for All Foundation, Dr. James Muecke who champions diabetes awareness to prevent loss of sight and also The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time (squash) Nicol David among other stellar guests which included scientists and physicians. We’re now in the planning stages of season two.  In addition to Kurang Manis, we also produce The Move8 Fit for Good Podcast where we interview fitness professionals who use their fitness for good. Here, we speak about exercise, movement therapy and strength building from a physical and mental standpoint. Thank you, airasia and Kerry-Ann! airasia berhad is a Malaysian multinational low-cost airline. Since 2018, the group’s businesses have include hotels, holidays, activities, online shopping and a robust travel, lifestyle and e-commerce platform delivered via the airasia super app. Most recently, the group has pivoted to offer integrated logistics including last mile deliveries through Teleport and digital financial service via its money app, BigPay. Listen to Talks with Tony, a new podcast by airasia Co-Founder and CEO Tony Fernandes.

Children now have the opportuninty to choose their sponsor with World Vision Malaysia’s Chosen campaign

Chosen aims to alleviate poverty and empower vulnerable children by giving them the power to choose 8 July 2021, Petaling Jaya – Malaysians are invited to participate and be chosen by children from vulnerable communities starting today until 26 July 2021 in an inaugural child sponsorship campaign titled Chosen by international humanitarian organisation, World Vision Malaysia. World Vision Malaysia CEO Mr. Daniel Boey said Chosen is World Vision’s new invitation to child sponsorship that puts the power to choose in a child’s hands. For the first time in World Vision’s 70-year history, the child will choose their sponsor!  The campaign will kick off with a community in Cambodia where since the first case of COVID-19 was identified, children have been deprived from their childhood and live in fear for their well-being… read full press release here. This news release has been distributed for World Vision Malaysia by GoInternationalGroup.com. News distribution beyond borders

Team Australia all set to foster post-pandemic Indo-Pacific relations. Team Malaysia ready with welcome mats?

Your browser does not support HTML5 video. Asia Taskforce Report Launch CANBERRA, April 7, 2021 — The Hon Dan Tehan MP, Australia’s minister for trade, tourism and investment, launches the report A Second Chance: How Team Australia Can Succeed in Asia from the Asia Taskforce, an initiative of the Business Council of Australia, Asia Society Australia, and knowledge partners PwC and the University of Sydney Business School. Featuring a panel discussion with Asia Taskforce leaders: Mark van Dyck, regional managing director, Asia Pacific, Compass Group and chair of the Asia Taskforce; Jennifer Westacott AO, chief executive officer, Business Council of Australia; Philipp Ivanov, chief executive officer, Asia Society Australia; and Andrew Parker, partner and Asia practice leader, PwC Australia. (50 min., 28 sec.) Source: The Asia Society Go International Group is pleased to serve Australian clients who seek business exploration opportunities and introduction to Malaysian small-medium enterprises (SMEs) via its Cultural Immersion Programs. For further information, contact our Consulting Advisor Jasmine Low in Sydney on sydney@gointernationalgroup.com or call 0426 381 741 (+614 26 381 741).