WELCOME REMARKS BY
PROFESSOR DR NOORSAADAH ABD.
RAHMAN DEPUTY VICE CHANCELLOR (RESEARCH AND INNOVATION),
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA
5 TH ASIAN HEALTH LITERACY ASSOCIATION (AHLA) CONFERENCE
Monday, 13 November 2017, 9.00 am,
Auditorium, Research Management & Innovation Complex,
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
PROFESSOR DR NOORSAADAH ABD.
RAHMAN DEPUTY VICE CHANCELLOR (RESEARCH AND INNOVATION),
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA
5 TH ASIAN HEALTH LITERACY ASSOCIATION (AHLA) CONFERENCE
Monday, 13 November 2017, 9.00 am,
Auditorium, Research Management & Innovation Complex,
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Professor Dr Ming-Che Tsai
President, Asian Health Literacy Association (AHLA)
School of Medicine Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Professor Yaw-Tang Shih
Past President, AHLA
Asia University, Taiwan
Professor Dr Peter Chang
General Secretary, AHLA
Taipei Medical University , Taiwan
Professor Dr Ying-Wei Wang
Director-General, Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan
School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan
Dr Wachira Pengjuntr
Director General, Department of Health, Thailand
Professor Dato 'Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman
Dean , Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
Professor Dr Maznah Dahlui
Deputy Dean (Development), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
Vice President Administrative, Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH)
Professor Dr Sanjay Rampal
Head, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
National Organizing Co-Chair and Head of the 5 th AHLA Conference
Associate Professor Dr Tin Tin Su
Head, Center for Population Health (CePH), Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
National Organizing Chair and Head of the 5 th AHLA Conference
Distinguished speakers, Colleagues, Ladies and gentlemen,I am pleased to welcome you to the 5th Asian Health Literacy Association (AHLA) Conference. On behalf of University Malaya (UM) I would like to express my profound and sincere gratitude for your presence in this grand and impactful conference. We are delighted to have you here to participate, exchange knowledge as well as share experiences experiences with others about health literacy and its implications on public health. It's worthy of note that many of you travelled long to be present at this year's conference. This goes to show how important this conference is.
AHLA has successfully held four international conferences in the past four years. This 5 thconference is jointly organized by the University of Malaya through the Center for Population Health (CEPH), Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (SPM) and Asian Health Literacy Association (AHLA). The host, University of Malaya, the foremost and premier Research University Malaysia in, Currently Ranked 24 TH in Asia and 114 TH Globally in the QS World University Ranking The University of AT 2018. We are pleased to Malaya the this Conference Host HAVING Recognized and appreciated The Impact of Health Literacy ON Humongous The societal Health.
Asian Association of Literacy (AHLA), an an independent multinational non-governmental organization, seeks to understand health literacy levels across Asia from research, education and policy perspective. , corporations, as well as media in a bid to develop better interventions in health education and services. AHLA promotes health literacy as an efficient way to improve healthcare quality thus reduce health disparities between communities, groups, and nations.
Health literacy encompasses people's knowledge, motivation and competencies to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. As you are all aware, the essential roles of health literacy in the population health needs to be emphasized. This is because low health literacy increases the risk of serious illnesses, requiring emergency care, mismanaging the poor health in the old people, not understanding diseases and condition, hospitalization, and economic inefficiency in the healthcare system.
The theme of this year's conference, "Health Literacy and Population Health" is aimed at educating and empowering the general population on basic health information and services needed to make appropriate decisions. Health literacy is essential for access to proper care and use of health services, From a public health perspective, it places greater emphasis on the knowledge and skills required to prevent diseases and promote health in our daily lives. Therefore, improved communication between patients, caregivers, health service providers, administrative agencies, policy-makers, and the media can promote health literacy and result in better-coordinated and more efficient health systems that protect people from health risks.Strong partnerships between national health literacy programs allow all stakeholders to benefit from the best ideas in health from around the world. UM will always support initiatives that promote health literacy at regional and global forums.
This two-day conference is fully-packed with many activities designed to equip and empower us with new ideas and requisite knowledge needed to tackle issues of health literacy with the ultimate goal of having a better health care for all. The success of this conference depends ON you. Your Active involvement in and contribution to The Discussion Will BE of Vital Importance in Making Health Information Accessible to the Everyone, regardless of background, Education, or Literacy Level.
the in Concluding the this address, the let Me REITERATE My Sincere Hope that the this Conference Will be a blessing to us and the world in general. Once again, thank you for your whole-souled participation in this great gathering of intellectual key players. I hereby declare the conference officially open.
PROFESSOR DR NOORSAADAH ABD. RAHMAN
DEPUTY VICE CHANCELLOR (RESEARCH AND INNOVATION),
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA