60% surveyed Malaysians suffer from poor indoor air quality

60% SURVEYED MALAYSIANS SUFFER FROM POOR INDOOR AIR QUALITY

OCT 15, 2019 @ 10.51AM

(Left to right): Gladys Goh, Group General Manager of Nippon Paint Malaysia Group and Dr Amir Hamzah, President of the Malaysian Society of Allergy and Immunology officiating the launch of the Indoor Wellness Programme.

The Guideline is available for download at www.nipponpaint.com.my/indoorwellness

Nippon Paint Malaysia Group (“Nippon Paint”), officially launched its Indoor Wellness Programme, an educational campaign aimed at empowering homeowners to take charge of improving their overall indoor air quality at home, towards a more holistic wellness.

The programme consists of two phases – the Indoor Wellness Survey and the Indoor Wellness Guideline. The Survey, which polled 511 respondents, was aimed at assessing the habits of homeowners when it comes to the cleanliness of various spaces at home. With a focus on the living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen – the respondents were then given an Indoor Wellness Score in the following categories: healthy, unhealthy and very unhealthy.

Following the survey, an Indoor Wellness Guideline was developed in partnership with the Malaysian Society of Allergy and Immunology (“MSAI”), the first-ever of such guideline by MSAI. The purpose of this guideline is to further educate the public on why indoor wellness is important and practical steps and expert advice on ways we can minimise or eliminate indoor pollutants.

According to the Indoor Wellness Survey, approximately 60% of surveyed Malaysians have poor indoor air quality, with almost 70% of them who are single and the remaining being married. The Survey further shows that the healthiest group of respondents are those aged between 25 to 34 years old (making up 37% of the healthy score category), while the unhealthiest group of surveyed are younger with age range from 18 to 24 years old (making up 45% of the very unhealthy score category). From the survey, 75% of respondents who live in urban areas tend to have unhealthier homes, while the remaining 25% of surveyed respondents practices good habits that leads to a healthier indoor air quality.

Kitchen cleanest space at home
Comparing all the various spaces at home, the kitchen is rated as the cleanest space at home while the unhealthiest spaces in the surveyed homes are the living room and bedroom, which is attributed to the fact that walls and floors are not cleaned often enough. Insights from the survey showed that only 25% respondents clean their living room walls weekly, while less than half (43%) clean their bedroom walls only once a year or never – a worrying insight as walls are the largest surface at home and are easily an active medium for the transmission of viruses and bacteria.

Only one third of the respondents (31%) reported to cleaning their bathrooms floors three times a week, despite 55% of respondents admitted to spotting mould in the area. Furthermore, more than 60% of respondents use scented products in their living room, bathroom and bedroom with the misconception that it is beneficial for the areas, when in reality, scented products could actually release chemicals that cause the areas to appear dingy and grey and releases pollutants into the indoor air.

This goes to show that there is a need to further educate and empower Malaysians to take charge of their overall health and wellness, including the wellness of their homes.

Wellness wheel
“Indoor wellness is a key part of the components within the Wellness Wheel, comprising of areas related to individual’s overall health and wellness in seven dimensions: emotional, intellectual, physical, social, environmental, financial, and spiritual. All dimensions are interconnected and plays an important role in achieving a well-rounded, holistic and balanced lifestyle,” says Dr Rajbans Singh, President of Malaysian Wellness Society (MWS), who was a panellist at the “Healthy Homes vs Sick Homes” panel discussion during the launch event.

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