USM, PENANG, 2 April 2016 – The 2^nd USM-MySihat Ambassadors Convention (Konvensyen Duta USM-MySihat) was held at the Dewan Utama Desasiswa Kompleks RST, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), recently to acknowledge the student volunteers as 'USM-MySihat Ambassadors'.

The volunteers involved were tasked with promoting health-related activities, especially relating to tobacco control.

USM was chosen by the Ministry of Health Malaysia through MySihat to implement this programme with a funding of RM500,000 since February 2012 and to end in May 2016.

The USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International Affairs), Professor Dato' Dr. Ahmad Shukri Mustapa Kamal in his speech said that, USM had started the tobacco-free campus initiative since mid-2012.

“This project was a university-community engagement effort, done via funding that was provided through the USM Division of Industry and Community Network (BJIM).”

"The main aim was to provide exposure for the promotion on health, specifically on tobacco control to the targeted group of 1,200 students from the USM Main Campus, the Health Campus and the Engineering Campus," he said.

The ceremony was officiated by the Chairperson of MySihat, Tan Sri Dato' Dr. Hj Mohd Nasir Mohd Asraf. Others who attended included the Chief Executive Officer of MySihat, Dr. Manimaran Krishnan Kaundan and Chairperson of the Central Committee for Tobacco-Free USM, Professor Rahmat Awang.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin

Text: Nur 'Izzah 'Atira bt Muhamad Nazmi (USM Internship Student)