2021 Highlights of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, University of Malaya Team

2021 has been a rather engaging and productive year for the ITC UM team here. The team led by Principal Investigators; Associate Professor Dr Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin and Associate Professor Dr Farizah Mohd Hairi together with fellow co-investigators; Associate Professor Dr Anne Yee, Associate Professor Nur Amani @Natasha Ahmad Tajuddin, Dr Mahmoud Danaee, Dr Siti Idayu and Project Data Manager, Ina Sharyn Kamaludin and in conjunction with a great team of faculty and student researchers successfully analysed and presented findings at:

13th Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health, 3^rd to 4^th September 2021, Bangkok, Thailand

• Use of e-cigarettes, reason for use and perceptions of harms among Malaysian smokers: Findings from the 2011-2014 ITC Malaysia Surveys by Associate Professor Dr Farizah Mohd Hairi.
• Dr Farizah also had the opportunity to show case the University Malaya’s Smoke Free Campus activities after her symposium presentation together with Indonesia’s and Singapore’s universities.
• Closing plenary lecture, Dr Amer Siddiq concluded the presentation on “From Bali to Bangkok Towards Kuala Lumpur: What have we got?”.

22^nd National Institutes of Health Scientific Conference, 22^nd and 23^rd September 2021, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• E-cigarette prevalence among Malaysian adults and e-cigarette products used by cigarette smokers who vape: Findings from the 2020 ITC Malaysia Survey by Associate Professor Dr Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin.
• Reasons for using E-cigarettes (ECs) and support for EC regulations: Findings from the 2020 ITC Malaysia Survey by Associate Professor Dr Farizah Mohd Hairi.
• Who Are More Likely to Have Quit Intentions Among Malaysian Adult Smokers: Findings from the 2020 ITC Malaysia Survey by Dr Siti Idayu Hasan.
• Prevalence of HTPs, reasons for use, perceptions of harms among Malaysian smokers: Findings from the 2020 ITC Malaysia Survey by Dr Muhamad Alfakri Mat Noh.
• Association between cigarette dependence and depression among smokers in Malaysia: Findings from the 2020 ITC Malaysia Survey by Dr Ellappa Ghanthan Rajendran.

KLNAC 2021 Virtual Symposium on 16^th November 2021

• 2020 ITC Malaysia Survey Methods by Dr Ahmad Syamil Mohamad.
• Perceived Harmfulness Between Combustibile cigarettes and HTPs, Between Combustible Cigarettes and ECs, and Between HTPS and ECs: Findings from the 2020 ITC Malaysia Survey by Dr Muhamad Alfakri Mat Noh.
• A Review of Current Regulatory Strategies for E-Cigarettes in Malaysia by Goh Kok Tiong.

Kindly view the ITC Project Newsletter, the Wave Volume 11 Issue 5: September/October 2021 featured our ITC University of Malaya Team activities.

Recently, just to wrap up 2021, our Founder and Chief Principal Investigator, Professor Geoffrey Fong, a professor in the Department of Psychology cross-appointed to the School of Public Health Sciences at Waterloo, was recently appointed to be an officer of the Order of Canada. Our heartiest congratulations to Professor Geoffrey!!

Read more: https://uwaterloo.ca/news/media/uwaterloo-professors-named-order-canada

This report was prepared by Associate Professor Dr Farizah Mohd Hairi, Dr Siti Idayu Hasan, and Ina Sharyn Kamaludin, ITC University of Malaya Team, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.