Malaysian Students Used Social Media to Raise Awareness on Thalassaemia
Repsol Malaysia today announced the conclusion of its successful five-month long Thalassaemia awareness campaign ‘NowyouSEEme 2021’, which was done in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education.
This campaign aims to educate secondary school students on the medical condition, encouraging them to be better informed, and to play an active role in society to manage and eventually eradicate the disease. Students had the opportunity to express their creativity in communicating their understanding and information about Thalassaemia through social media and other competitions organised in their respective schools.
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More than 13,000 students and teachers from 50 schools across Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang were involved in the campaign activities. The contests saw entries with a variety of content from infographics, short films, music videos, posters, and TikTok videos – each talking about Thalassaemia in their own unique way.
“We are encouraged by the students’ involvement in the ‘NowyouSEEme’ campaign. Beyond the contests, many sought information on Thalassaemia through our materials available on our campaign portal,” said Repsol Malaysia Director Pablo Ortolá Martínez. “The fight against Thalassaemia is a cause that Repsol Malaysia holds dear to our hearts. We have been committed to supporting the Thalassaemia communities locally and the efforts to create awareness for the last eight years. This achievement with the ‘NowyouSEEme’ campaign is an important milestone to us as we engage a different segment of audience – and perhaps, an important one – that are the students.”
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Repsol Malaysia is supportive of the government goals towards reducing the Thalassaemia birth rates in Malaysia by as much as 95% by 2038. They have been spearheading initiatives with local NGOs that are directly involved in supporting Thalassaemia communities.
Speaking at the virtual event, Ministry of Health’s Secretary General Dato’ Mohd Shafiq Abdullah said, “The ‘NowyouSEEme’ campaign is an important one to the cause of raising awareness on Thalassaemia because the disease can only be best managed when detected early. What this campaign has achieved is to help tell the Thalassaemia narrative through a fresh, different perspective – one that is relatable to the audience in the same generation.”
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On behalf of the Ministry of Education’s Secretary General YBhg. Hajah Nor Zamani bt Abdol Hamid said, “Digital learning is important to circumvent this COVID-19 pandemic as the students learn to grow accustomed to this norm. The future of education lies in digital platforms and goes beyond the classroom syllabus as the next generation shapes to become more holistic members of society. This campaign reflects how creative our students are in simplifying complex topics like Thalassaemia and how savvy they are in leveraging social media channels as a medium of learning.”
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‘NowyouSEEme 2021’ campaign awards and recognition
Overall, SMK Paka, Terengganu scored the highest number of points accumulated from students’ participation across the campaign initiatives, walking away with a RM5,000 cash prize. SMK Bentong, Pahang, and SMK Muadzam Jaya, Pahang emerged runner-up and second runner-up with a RM4,000 and RM3,000 cash prize respectively.
Other awards include:
- Most creative campaign: SMK Paka, Terengganu
- Most popular campaign through votes: SMK Paka, Terengganu
- Best performance: SMK Bentong, Pahang
- Best music video: SMK Bentong, Pahang
- Highest involvement for Thalassaemia quiz: SMK Bentong, Pahang
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Martinez quoted, “While the ‘NowyouSEEme’ campaign was a successful one, there is still a lot of work to be done with awareness on Thalassaemia. Our work as Repsol does not stop here and in fact, we hope that this would have inspired others to play their part in the cause in any capacity they can.”
Thalassemia in Malaysia
Thalassemia is an inherited condition that disrupts the production of red blood cells. In turn, the function of the cells is affected. This would cause one to easily feel tired, weak, or have shortness of breath. Regular blood transfusions are the most common method of treatment which is a life-long procedure.
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Based on the figures in the 2018 Thalassemia Registry Report, Sabah, showed the highest number of Thalassemia cases in Malaysia with a total of 1,814 patients that account for 22.72% of the cases. This is followed by Selangor, Kedah, and Johor with 1,169, 694, and 637 patients, respectively. There are 110 government hospitals in Malaysia actively managing Thalassemia patients.
Out of 7,984 thalassaemia patients in Malaysia, the age group between 11-15 years old have the highest number of patients with 1,394 patients (17.46%), followed by 16-20 years old and 6-10 years old with 1,286 (16.11%) and 1,272 (15.93%) patients, respectively. The data also indicate a smaller number of the patients above 50 years old (278 patients, 3.48 %).
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