Famous For The Wrong Reason

Bandar Utama BU4, a community with 554 houses, has one of the lowest crime rate in Bandar Utama. But now BU4 is famous again for the wrong reason. There were >35 cases of dengue in BU4 from April to June 2008 and this is an alarming statistic.

Data wise, the dengue incidence rate (per 100,000 population) for Malaysia in 2006 was 64.37. The current dengue incidence rate in BU4 is >1,200. In another analogy, the probability of hitting the 4D first prize is 1/10,000, but the probability of getting a dengue fever in BU4 is 120/10,000.

MBPJ had been fogging and checking BU4 surrounding regularly recently. But most importantly, the residents must help to ensure that there is no aedes breeding grounds left in BU4. We cannot depend on MBPJ solely, it must be a joint effort in order to solve this epidemic. The gotong royong campaign tells it all.

Papaya Leaf - Cure For Dengue?

You could have received the following email on cure for dengue: "Accordingly it is raw papaya leaves, 2pcs just cleaned and pound and squeeze with filter cloth. You will only get one tablespoon per leaf. So two tablespoon per serving once a day. Do not boil or cook or rinse with hot water, it will loose its strength. Only the leafy part and no stem or sap. It is very bitter and you have to swallow it like Won Low Kat. But it works"

From our observations in few dengue cases in our community recently, different people reacted to it differently. Some positively, but there are also negative reaction. However, since there is no western medicine that can cure dengue, why not give it a try.

Not knowing that papaya leaf can be used for papaya leaf tea, stomach ailment, mosquitoes repellent, malaria prophylactic, cancer prevention and antiseptic/digestive.

CSR - Walk The Talk?

If you do a search on "CSR" on Bursa Malaysia website, you will be able to find the following document "CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) FRAMEWORK FOR MALAYSIAN PUBLIC LISTED COMPANIES".

One of the CSR focal area is "Environment" and what I wanted to point out is specifically related to listed companies CSR on Environment-Climate Change.

We know paper is made from trees, and trees are helping to recycle the greenhouse gases back to the atmosphere. When trees are chopped, and forests are cleared in order to make paper, the amount of greenhouse gases in the environment will increase, and thus lead to global warming.

Lots of listed companies keep talking about CSR and planting trees. However, they don't really walk the talk. In their Request for Proposal process, lots of them required the vendor to submit multiple hard copies of the proposal, with printed brochures and supplementary materials. Often, one RFP submission will use up to 10 reams of A4 papers.

According to Conservatree, one ream (500 sheets) paper uses 6% of a tree. If 10 vendors were to participate in the RFP, 6 trees will be cut.

It doesn't matter what the listed companies talk and say about CSR, what matter is how they walk the talk.

Fever - Wellness vs Sickness Approach

My son was having fever and serious stomach discomfort last weekend and I decided to bring him for a doctor visit.

The first doctor that we visited was a young doctor, working a weekend job at one of the popular 24-hours clinic. After examined my son's condition, the young doctor concluded that it was viral infection, and prescribed some medicines for stomach discomfort and fever. As my son's fever is not serious (~38 C), he told us to take the fever medicine only when necessary. He also told us that he will not be prescribing antibiotic, as it's not good to the kid. It's better for the kid to develop his own immune system.

The next day my son were having rashes all over his body. I brought him for another doctor checkup just to ensure that it's not dengue fever, as there were rampant cases of dengue fever in my housing area. The doctor is a middle aged doctor who owned the clinic. After examining my son's condition, the first thing that this doctor said is he'll put my son on antibiotic. He'll also prescribed additional stronger fever medicine.

Being exposes to the wellness approach of curing disease, me and my wife decided to go against the second doctor advice on the sickness approach in treating my son's fever and rashes. We ensure my son have enough rest, fluids, vitamin C, and make sure that his temperature is well below 39C. 3 days later, his fever and rashes had subsided, without the antibiotic and fever medicine.

Standing in my shoe, what will be your approach? Wellness? Sickness?