Ban Vape Now to Protect Public Health in Malaysia

Executive Summary Vaping has emerged as a growing public health and security crisis in Malaysia. Once promoted as a safer alternative to smoking, vaping is now strongly linked to nicotine addiction, youth uptake, serious health harms, and even drug abuse. The enforcement of the Akta Kawalan Produk Merokok Demi Kesihatan Awam 2024 (Act 852), effective…

Statistics and Machine Learning in Public Health: When to Use What

If you’re trained in epidemiology or biostatistics, you likely think in terms of models, inference, and evidence. Now, with machine learning entering the scene, you’re probably hearing about algorithms that can “predict” disease, “detect” outbreaks, and “learn” from data. But while ML offers exciting possibilities, it’s important to understand how it differs from classical statistical…