Anti-Aging in Malaysia

Fight Aging!

Do you want to live a longer life in good health? Simple practices can make some difference, such as exercise or calorie restriction. But over the long haul all that really matters is progress in medicine: building new classes of therapy to repair and reverse the known root causes of aging. The sooner these treatments arrive, the more lives will be saved. Find out how to help »

I thought you might find this article interesting. It follows up on the first First Malaysian Conference on Anti-Ageing Medicine:

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will introduce anti-ageing medicine in hospitals if it is proven to be effective in treating or reversing ageing-related diseases. Health Ministry Family Health Development director Datuk Dr Narimah Awin said such medicine presented a new perspective and a paradigm shift in the population's healthcare.
"The Government will incorporate it (in the healthcare system) if there is evidence that anti-ageing medicine is good for the Malaysian population," she said at the First Malaysian Conference on Anti-Ageing Medicine yesterday. "Ageing and disease affects us as we grow older. Some of the challenges that accompany the ageing population must be seen as opportunities. There are several opportunities to enhance the quality of life of older people, and one such opportunity is offered by anti-ageing medicine. We need to consider anti-ageing medicine in the light of the Malaysian social and health scenario," said Dr Narimah, who is also secretary to the Health Ministry's National Council for Anti-Ageing.

Anti-ageing medicine, a RM200bil industry in the United States, is the practice of early detection, prevention and treatment or reversal of ageing-related dysfunctions.

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While ageing is an inevitable natural process, she added, ill health, discomfort, disabilities in old age should not be seen as inevitable. "You can't help growing older, but you don't have to get old," Dr Narimah said.

For the most part, that sounds like a refreshingly responsible attitude. Clearly define what you are talking about when you say "anti-aging," and prove that particular therapies work before using them. We'll see how it pans out in practice - hopefully better than the bulk of the anti-aging marketplace in the US.

I should finish up by noting that aging is only inevitable if we continue to do nothing about it - i.e. if funding for scientific anti-aging research to address the aging process itself continues to be scarce. Medical progress requires public support and money to move forward; we should be providing more of both for serious efforts to understand and intervene in the aging process.