August 2024: Can Malaysia Quit Like Sweden? | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysi

In August 2024, Quit Like Sweden brought together leading public health experts in Kuala Lumpur who said Malaysia could save hundreds of thousands lives if it embraces innovative and proven harm reduction measures to move the country’s 5 million smokers away from cigarettes.

In Kuala Lumpur, the event brought together harm reduction and public health experts, such as Dr Anders Milton and Dr Fredrik Nystrom from Sweden, Professor Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh from Malaysia, and Professor Marewa Glover from New Zealand.

In attendance was also Malaysian member of parliament, YB Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan, and vaping advocates Samsul Arifin from the Malaysian Organisation of Vape Entity, Benedict Weerasena from Bait Al-Amanah, and Federico Fernandez from We Are Innovation.

Quit Like Sweden founding director, Suely Castro, said: “The message from the Quit Like Sweden event in Kuala Lumpur was clear: Malaysia has the opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of lives. The evidence from Sweden is compelling, and the need for action is urgent. To achieve this, Malaysia must adopt policies that make alternatives to smoking both accessible, acceptable, and affordable to people who smoke. This includes educating the public about their potential.”

“By doing so, Malaysia can successfully learn from the Swedish experience, tailoring the Swedish approach to its own needs and significantly reduce the health burden associated with smoking,” she said.

In Sweden, while one in four adults in use nicotine daily—a rate comparable to the rest of Europe—the country experiences significantly better health outcomes.

Ms Castro said: “Sweden’s success in reducing smoking rates is unparalleled. In Sweden, the cancer incidence is 41% lower than the European average, and smoking-related deaths are less than half of those in 24 of the other 26 EU countries. This stark contrast underscores the effectiveness of Sweden’s strategies in mitigating the health impacts associated with nicotine use.”

“We have the ability to save hundreds of thousands of lives in Malaysia, and millions more around the world, just by replicating a model that has already worked so well for Sweden,” Ms Castro said.

“And there’s no better time to start that conversation than now.”

“Rethinking the Smoking War”, The Star, 1 September 2024: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/focus/2024/09/01/rethinking-the-smoking-war

Speakers:

Professor Marewa Glover

Professor Marewa Glover is one of New Zealand’s leading tobacco control researchers. She has worked on reducing smoking-related harm for 31 years. She is recognized internationally for her advocacy on tobacco harm reduction; and locally was a Finalist in the New Zealander of the Year Supreme Award in 2019 recognising her contribution to reducing smoking in NZ. In 2018, Dr Glover was appointed Tobacco Section Editor for the Harm Reduction Journal. In that year she also established the Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty & Smoking an international program of research aimed at reducing smoking-related harms among Indigenous peoples globally. The Centre’s research was funded with a grant from Global Action to End Smoking (formerly known as Foundation for Smoke-Free World), an independent, U.S. nonprofit 501(c)(3) grantmaking organization, accelerating science-based efforts worldwide to end the smoking epidemic. Neither Marewa nor the Centre have any commercial interests in any nicotine or tobacco products.

Dr Anders Milton

Dr. Milton is a physician with extensive experience in public service, a highly sought-after consultant in the healthcare sector and a former chair of the WMA.

Currently the owner and CEO of Milton Consulting and current chair of the Snus Commission.

He is the Chairman of the Board of three foundations that work with education for children and adolescents and a number of for-profit companies in the field of life science.

Dr Fredrik Nyström

Dr. Fredrik H. Nystrom (SWE) is Professor at Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. His major research areas are Internal Medicine (General Medicine), Obesity and Appetite regulation, Insulin, Cholesterol, Hypertension, Atherosclerosis, Metabolism, and Diabetes.

Suely Castro

Suely is a passionate and energetic harm reduction advocate whose mission is to end smoking. She was inspired by her personal experience of the impact that smoking and the lack of alternatives can have on families, and decided to set up Quit Like Sweden after witnessing first-hand Sweden’s incredible achievements. Her goal is to bring the Swedish Experience to the world and save other families from the challenges she had to face.

Federico N. Fernandez

Federico N. Fernández is CEO at We Are Innovation, a global network formed by 45+ think tanks and NGOs that believe innovative solutions are how people get involved in solving problems.

Federico is the Founder and President of Fundación Internacional Bases (Rosario, Argentina) and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Conference “The Austrian School of Economics in the 21st Century,” which takes place in Europe and LatAm alternatively.

Benedict Weerasena

Benedict Weerasena is the Research Director at Bait Al Amanah (House of Trust) and a Fellow at the Center for Market Education. He is the co-author of the book ‘Accessing and Addressing Urban Poverty in Malaysia: Social Mobility through Entrepreneurship’. His research interests include public finance, behavioural economics, development studies, education and health policy. He has presented at various international conferences on harm reduction including the Innovation Summit Southeast Asia 2023 and Evolving Treatment Methodologies in Addiction Conference 2022 and 2024. He has also co-authored several publications on harm reduction, namely, ‘International Best Practices for Tobacco and Nicotine Public Policy’, ‘Harm Reduction Strategies: Discussion & Action Plan’ Policy Report, ‘Harm Reduction Policy as a Pathway toward Combating Illegal Trade’ Policy Brief, ‘Tobacco Harm Reduction: Principles & Policies’ Book Chapter and contributed to the drafting of a White Paper on ‘The Way Forward for Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) in Malaysia’.

Prof. Dr. Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh

Prof. Dr. Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh is the Professor of Hospital Management and Health Economics. Her main interests are in the areas of health policy, health inequality and health economics. She has been appointed as a casemix consultant, coding specialist (with UNU-IIGH and ITCC UKM) to conduct research & capacity building in Health System in developing country. She has sat on previous posts, as the Deputy Dean, as the Honorary Fellow to Tun Fatimah Hashim Women’s Leadership Center UKM and Chairman to Technical Advisory Committee for Health Technologies, Economic Evaluation (TACHTEE), MoH. She was appointed as a consultant to the Ministry of Human Resource on Burden of Occupational Related Diseases; Grant reviewers with the Ministry of Education (MoE), consultation with MoE on the issue of vape use among university’s candidates, a panel auditor for local universities with SETARA Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health on Cluster Hospital efficiency study and Prime Minister’s Department on Prevalence of Autism among children in Malaysia. She is a reviewer of other journals, locally and abroad and published papers locally and abroad, regularly writes in newspapers, chapters, books and has appeared on the media for issues relating the care of community, health financing and Alternative nicotine products. She is ardent advocate on harm reduction in Malaysia and is part of the regional harm reduction experts in Asia Pacific.

Special interest Community medicine, health economics, harm reduction and health inequality.

Samsul Arifin

Samsul Kamal, a graduate of the University of London with a Diploma in Economics, is a dedicated advocate for the vape industry. As the President of the Malaysian Organization of Vape Entity (MOVE) a non profit that represents the vape consumer group, he has been at the forefront of efforts to regulate the vape industry in Malaysia since 2015. Through his engagement with government ministries, agencies, policy makers and healthcare professionals, Samsul Kamal has made significant strides in advancing the cause of responsible vaping.

YB Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan

YB Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan is Member of Parliament for Tasek Gelugor. He is also a Supreme Council Member of BERSATU.

Previously, he was the founding Chief Executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) from 2010 to 2018, and Senior Visiting Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, from 2015 to 2018. He was also Information Chief for BERSATU from 2020 to 2023.