SEREMBAN: The Public Health Institute is conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2025 from July 22 to Sept 21, focusing on the health of Malaysians aged 60 and above, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni says.
He said NHMS 2025, which aims to assess the health status of senior citizens in Malaysia in line with the “ageing well” concept, will cover approximately 16,700 randomly selected households nationwide.
"The main modules in this NHMS cover three key domains, namely the mental health domain, which includes cognitive, dementia, and geriatric depression screenings.
"The physical domain includes daily activities, instrumental activities of daily living, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol levels, other chronic diseases, sarcopenia, and frailty; while the social domain covers informal caregiver burden, social support, quality of life, and ageing well," he said in a statement here on Friday (July 25).
He said 43 teams have been deployed to collect data through face-to-face interviews, self-administered questionnaires, and clinical assessments involving approximately 5,000 respondents.
"…(clinical assessments) include blood pressure measurement, finger-prick blood sampling (to screen for cholesterol and blood sugar levels), and sarcopenia assessments, including handgrip strength, muscle mass percentage, and the 30-second chair stand test," he said.
The findings from NHMS 2025 are expected to provide detailed insights into the health status of the elderly population in the country, enabling the Health Ministry to assess priority policies and national health programme strategies.
Lukanisman also called on all parties, particularly government agencies, healthcare professionals, researchers, and community leaders, to collaborate in this mission to ensure that the elderly can lead healthy, meaningful, and productive lives. - Bernama
