Sun Life Malaysia Continues Its Mission to Champion Diabetes Prevention, Emphasises on the Importance of Early Detection
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 1 September 2022 – Sun Life Malaysia, a life insurance and family takaful provider, is bringing back its ‘Brighter Health Blood Glucose Screening Programme’ for the third year to provide complimentary blood glucose screenings to Malaysians from now until end November 2022.
Malaysians can just walk into any of the participating 160 Health Lane Family Pharmacy and 44 AM PM Pharmacy outlets nationwide and receive a blood glucose screening at no cost.
The Programme is part of Sun Life Malaysia’s efforts to raise awareness on the importance of early detection as an important first step towards diabetes prevention. The simple act of getting your finger pricked to check the blood glucose level can be an effective way to detect early signs of disease and helps avoid further health complications such as kidney failure, eyes diseases and even cardiovascular issues.
Diabetes has been one of the major public health concerns in Malaysia. According to the Institute for Public Health (IPH), by 2025, diabetes is expected to affect 7 million Malaysian adults aged 18 and older – that is almost 1 in 5 Malaysians.
Raymond Lew, CEO and President/Country Head of Sun Life Malaysia said, “Diabetes is an invisible killer. Though it is not a leading cause of death in Malaysia, diabetes complications can impair the quality of life, and obscure the treatment of other health problems including COVID-19. Diabetes prevention is a global advocacy for Sun Life. Over the years, we have launched various community outreach initiatives to educate and support Malaysians to take early preventive steps against type 2 diabetes and to financially help those living with type 1 diabetes.”
“As a brand championing healthier lives, we introduced the ‘Brighter Health Blood Glucose Screening Programme’, in 2019, to provide a convenient channel for people to check their blood glucose and to identify the risks early. The findings from our second instalment in 2021 showed that 39% of participants were not aware that they have higher-than-normal blood glucose readings. We also found out that over 50% of those aged above 41 years had higher than normal blood glucose levels which underscores the importance of screening for early detection especially among the high-risk group,” Lew added.
This year, besides AM PM Pharmacy and Health Lane Family Pharmacy, other supporting partners for the Programme are Walnut Wellness, Roche Malaysia and MOG Eyewear Malaysia. Through the 45 participating MOG Eyewear outlets nationwide, Malaysians can obtain a complimentary eye health assessment which include a diabetic retinopathy screening and eye profile consultation. Most people are not aware that diabetic complications can lead to detrimental eye diseases which could affect vision quality.
“At Sun Life Malaysia, we understand that the fight against diabetes requires collective efforts from the government, organisations, and individuals. We hope our Brighter Health Blood Glucose Screening Programme will drive continued conversations on this disease, and more importantly, promote sustained behavioural changes to prevent diabetes. So, join us to fight against diabetes and share the information with your family and friends. Most importantly, do get your finger pricked today,” Lew concluded.
For more information, please visit www.sunlifemalaysia.com or follow Sun Life Malaysia’s social media pages.
