KOTA KINABALU: In a move to tackle the incidence of Thalassemia in Sabah, three organisations have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to develop mutually beneficial
programmes that would lead to better awareness and actions related to the ailment.
The cooperation will see the sharing of expertise in the promotion of social and behaviour
change among target communities in identified districts, monitoring and evaluation of
activities, related research and administrative support.
The three partners for the year-long cooperation are the UMS-UNICEF Communication for
Development (C4D) Research Unit based at Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s Faculty of Social
Sciences and Humanities, Sabah Council of Social Services and Sabah Thalassemia
Society.
Representing the UMS-UNICEF C4D Research Unit was UMS Faculty of Social Sciences
and Humanities Dean, Prof. Dr. Asmady Idris. Signing on behalf of the Sabah Council of
Social Services was its Management Chairman Jais Asri who is also the Director of the
Sabah Welfare Services Department, while Sabah Thalassemia Society was represented by
its president Francis Mujim.
Speaking at the signing ceremony held at the Sabah International Convention Centre,
Asmady welcomed the strategic cooperation as it would boost efforts to carry out
programmes that address the issue of Thalassemia in a systematic manner and in a timely
way.
“The university would also like to see its researchers carrying out active engagement with
communities, as stressed by the Ministry of Higher Education. We need to be on the ground
to work with the community, and with industry, and this cooperation is in line with this
aspiration.
“There is also an opportunity to have the outcome of research and programmes carried out
in this partnership published in journals or as a book, which would then serve as a reference for future work. This would be a valuable product for the university and its partners,” he said at the signing ceremony.
The UMS Strategic Plan 2023-2027 places emphasis on translatable research and
government, industry and community engagement. The cooperation also aligns with the
second pillar of the UMS Transformation Plan 2050 that focuses on innovating society.
UMS-UNICEF C4D Research Unit head Dr. Latif Lai said the signing of the Letter of Intent
was a culmination of its partnership with the Sabah Council of Social Services, having
provided training and action plan workshops for member organisations to understand and
implement the use of social and behaviour change principles in their work.
“Some of the NGOs under the Sabah Council of Social Services had prepared their plans
following guidance from the Research Unit, and we subsequently decided to support Sabah
Thalassemia Society in their crucial effort to reduce the incidence of Thalassemia in Sabah.
“We look forward to this partnership, especially in the aspect of research. We are committed to seeing the research findings shared with all the organisations involved,” he said.
Also present were UNICEF Malaysia programme specialist for Sabah Dr. Elaine Kong, and
Sabah Council of Social Services executive secretary Joeanne Lee.-pr/BNN
