Developing a policy to reduce the salt content of food consumed outside the home in Malaysia: Protocol of a qualitative study
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2021
Abstract
Introduction Current salt intake in Malaysia is high. The existing national salt reduction policy has faced slow progress and does not yet include measures to address the out of home sector. Dishes consumed in the out of home sector are a known leading contributor to daily salt intake. This study aims to develop a salt reduction strategy, tailored to the out of home sector in Malaysia. Methods and analysis This study is a qualitative analysis of stakeholder views towards salt reduction. Participants will be recruited from five zones of Malaysia (Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern regions and East Malaysia), including policy-makers, non-governmental organisations, food industries, school canteen operators, street food vendors and consumers, to participate in focus group discussions or in-depth interviews. Interviews will be transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Barriers will be identified and used to develop a tailored salt reduction strategy. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Research Ethics Committee (UKM PPI/1118/JEP-2020-524), the Malaysian National Medical Research Ethics Committee (NMRR-20-1387-55481 (IIR)) and Queen Mary University of London Research Ethics Committee (QMERC2020/37). Results will be presented orally and in report form and made available to the relevant ministries for example, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Trade to encourage adoption of strategy as policy. The findings of this study will be disseminated through conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications and webinars.
Keywords
Public health, Qualitative research, Preventive medicine, Nutrition & dietetics
Divisions
fac_med
Funders
Newton Fund Impact Scheme by the Medical Research Council on behalf of UK Research and Innovation in the UK,Malaysia Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MiGHT) [Grant No: MR/V005847/1]
Publication Title
BMJ Open
Volume
11
Issue
7
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
Publisher Location
BRITISH MED ASSOC HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON WC1H 9JR, ENGLAND