Paper Title
A STUDY USING A SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW TO EXPLORE THE CURRENT PRACTICES TO CURB OBESITY AMONG THE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract
Abstract - Malaysia is top-ranked in the number of obesity cases in South-East Asia. In 2019, the National Health and Morbidity Survey was conducted. The finding was remarkably alarming, with 50.1% of Malaysian adults being either overweight or obese. It turns out that excess weight issues among adults could actually start much earlier in their life. This is supported by a systematic review which was carried out from 1990 till 2014, which has revealed an increasing rate of obesity cases among the secondary school students in Malaysia. The continuous increasing in the number of obesity cases, increases the urge to develop and implement various practices to curb obesity among the secondary school students. This qualitative study through semi-structured interview, is conducted to explore the current practices available in Malaysia to curb obesity among the secondary school students. Various food, physical activity and curriculum related practices were carried out to curb obesity among the secondary students. Interestingly, there were also various efforts carried out collaboratively by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. Keywords - Obesity, Current Practices, Secondary Students