Repsol Malaysia recently collaborated with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) to launch its Thalassemia awareness campaign, ‘NowyouSEEme’.
This campaign aims to educate secondary school students on the medical condition to be better informed and to play an active role in society to manage and eventually eradicate the disease.
The ‘NowyouSEEme’ initiative gives students the opportunity to display their creativity in communicating their understanding and information about Thalassaemia on social media and through competitions organised in their respective schools. Fifty schools from Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang have been selected in the first phase of this campaign before it is continued in the other states.
Repsol Malaysia Director Pablo Ortolá Martínez said, “Since 2013, Repsol Malaysia has been committed to support the Thalassemia communities locally and the efforts to create awareness about this disorder.
“The goal we are working towards is to get the community involved in the fight against the disease to reduce the Thalassaemia birth rates in Malaysia by as much as 95 per cent by year 2038. With the support of the MoH and MoE on this campaign, we are able to achieve this by engaging an important group of people – the students – more effectively and impactfully.”
Repsol Malaysia started its own efforts eight years ago in Sabah by working with local NGOs that are directly involved in supporting Thalassemia communities. They then expanded the effort to the rural areas of Terengganu working with a Hulu Terengganu hospital to set up the first Thalassemia Day Care centre by a private entity.
Speaking at the virtual launch of the event, Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said: “Thalassemia is a medical condition that is common among Malaysians. As of 2018, there were officially 8,681 registered patients in Malaysia, and that number has been growing since. Education on the disease is crucial and that is why we are supportive of Repsol Malaysia’s efforts in contributing towards the Thalassemia campaign.”
Also attending virtually was Deputy Minister of Education 1 Muslimin Yahaya who said: “Education beyond classroom learning is important for students, especially with a topic such as Thalassemia. Repsol Malaysia’s approach of tapping into the students’ creativity and leveraging the online platform reflects how we will navigate this new reality of learning.”
The ‘NowyouSEEme’ activities will officially run from March 15 to Aug 18 2021 whereby students will be submitting their contest entries online and through the facilitators in their respective schools. There are over RM18,000 cash prizes along with trophies which will be awarded to the winners on Oct 6, 2021.
