Prof Datin Dr Chia Yook Chin is the Recipient of the WHL 2022 Graham MacGregor Excellence Award in Dietary Salt Reduction

Prof Datin Dr Chia Yook Chin is the Recipient of the WHL 2022 Graham MacGregor Excellence Award in Dietary Salt Reduction

Professor Datin Dr Chia Yook Chin is a hypertension specialist of the European Society of Hypertension and was the president of the Malaysian Society of Hypertension for 6 years from 2014-2020. She is also a member of the Malaysian Clinical Practice Guidelines on the management of hypertension.

Her research interest has focused on hypertension. One of the contributors of high blood pressure/hypertension is high salt intake. The daily salt intake in Malaysia is 7.9 g/day, much higher than the recommended World Health Organization target of <5 g/day. The Malaysian Ministry of Health has embraced the call of WHO to reduce salt intake by the population. Health care professionals in Malaysia need to contribute and encourage the community to subscribe to a lower salt intake.

In line with this, Prof Chia embarked on research on salt content. In foods, as well as being a member of the Newton-Omar research team, currently conducting more research in order to develop a policy to reduce the salt content of food consumed outside the home in Malaysia At the same time, Prof Chia established and founded a new society called MyWASSH (Malaysian Society for World Action on Salt, Sugar and Health) which has been fully registered with the Malaysian Registrar of Societies in November 2021. The main aims of this society are to promote salt and sugar reduction for better health and to provide education on salt, sugar intake and health to the public.

Furthermore, Prof Chia has also established affiliation of MyWASSH with World Hypertension League and the International Society of Hypertension with the aim of working together to reduce salt intake. She also initiated a memorandum of understanding between MyWASSH, UK WASSH and Sunway University.

In recognition of her work in salt reduction at population level, the World Hypertension League has awarded Prof Chia the 2022 Graham MacGregor Excellence Award in Dietary Salt Reduction at the Population Level.