Dr Nur Aisyah Abdul Rahim, a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate from the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, was awarded First Prize for Oral Presentation at the Malaysian Congress of Geriatric Medicine (MCGM) 2026. As Malaysia’s largest national meeting on geriatric medicine and aged care, MCGM brought together healthcare professionals and researchers to exchange knowledge and discuss advances in the care of older adults. The congress was held from 9 to 11 July 2026 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre under the theme ‘Ageing in Place – Continuity, Community and Care’.
The award recognises the quality and relevance of Dr Nur Aisyah’s research in addressing the growing public health challenges associated with population ageing in Malaysia. Her presentation, ‘Development and Validation of the Malaysian Social Frailty Index (MySFI)’, shared findings from a study conducted under the supervision of Professor Dr Choo Wan Yuen, Professor Dr Noran Naqiah Mohd Hairi, and Associate Professor Dr Halimah Awang.
Social frailty is increasingly recognised as an important determinant of health among older adults and has been associated with adverse health outcomes, yet it remains relatively underexplored. To address this gap, MySFI was developed using nationally representative data from the Malaysian Ageing and Retirement Survey (MARS). It is a psychometrically validated instrument for assessing social frailty among community-dwelling older adults in Malaysia. MySFI offers a culturally relevant tool to support early identification of social frailty and inform targeted social interventions to promote healthy ageing.
Presenting at MCGM 2026 offered Dr Nur Aisyah the opportunity to share her findings, receive expert feedback, and contribute to ongoing discussions on healthy ageing in Malaysia. This achievement reflects the quality of doctoral research at Universiti Malaya and the DrPH programme’s focus on research with practical relevance to national health priorities.
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