(Seated, from left) Satyakumar, Dr Noriah, Dr Siti Mariah and Aslynda with the presenters and panellists at the launch of Selhep 2023 at iSpace, Plaza Vads in Kuala Lumpur.
A TIMEBANKING system to encourage the elderly to stay active with community support was among several proposals presented at the Selangor Health Partnership Programme (Selhep) 2023 pitching session.
The system uses an app called “BuddyKamu” where users can offer or request help for meals (or a companion to eat with), technology and exercise.
This allows them to meet new people, feel more involved in the community and lead a more active life. Each activity allows the user to earn time credits.
The proposal by Leadinhealth Sdn Bhd, was one of 35 that were presented to a four-member healthcare panel over a two-day Selhep session held at iSpace, Plaza Vads in Kuala Lumpur last week.
The selected proposals would then receive funding from the Selangor government.
Selhep is an initiative by Selangor through its Public Health Standing Committee and Selangor Public Health Advisory Council (Selphac).
At the launch, Selangor public health, unity, women empowerment and family committee chairman Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said Selhep would focus on eight public health priorities, namely mental health, cervical cancer, healthy ageing, non-communicable diseases (NCD), early childhood nutrition, health literacy, tuberculosis as well as drug use and addiction.
She said Selhep attracted the interest of 341 organisations and received 125 proposals.
The Selphac committee then shortlisted 35 proposal papers that were presented.
Selhep aims to stimulate collaboration and smart cooperation with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academics, research institutions and the private sector.
“Implementation of Selhep will come from Selangor’s 2023 budget.
“The state government allocated RM65mil for the public health sector this year,” said Dr Siti Mariah.
Another proposal presented at the session was a fig-growing project in Selangor – to address childhood malnutrition – which has completed its first phase and is planning to expand into phase two.
Dr Siti Mariah said funding of the initiatives would be based on their scale and feasibility, without revealing the number of initiatives that would be chosen for implementation.
“Some will be used to improve existing state healthcare programmes while others are completely new initiatives that will be introduced,” she said.
She added that the chosen initiatives would utilise the Selangkah app as a marketing platform or implementation tool.
Also present during the session were Selangkah Ventures Sdn Bhd chief operating officer and director Datuk Wira S. Satyakumar, Selangor Health Department Infectious Disease Control Unit senior assistant director Dr Noriah Ismail, Selangor Economic Planning Unit sectoral section chief assistant director Aslynda Mohd Dahlan and Selhep members.
