Introduction: Global health awareness is sorely lacking in medical curricula and the general public, leading to increasing apathy and decreased levels of volunteerism. Much knowledge about pertinent global health issues is sequestered with academicians and researchers, with little public trickle down. The aim of the study was to increase awareness among Sabahan public about global health issues and promote discussion. Methods: A global health film club was established at community level and discussions about issues and potential individual action points was conducted. Films were screened every month in both UMS and Palliative Care Center Sabah. Global health issues ranging from First World manipulation of HIV/AIDS medication prices, deregulation of medical devices industries, heroin addiction, ADHD drug abuse, and stigma in psychiatry were covered. Public participants’ responses were collected qualitatively. Results: The films largely were well received by participants, with most participants prefer-ring the expose-type films over the more narrative approaches. Films spurred discussion about how foreign or global issues were related to local level, for example unscrupulous sale of medical devices in Malaysian populations and abuse of sleeping medications from local health providers. Also each film screening vastly increased participants’ awareness of pertinent issues, and spurred them to evangelise about said issues to others and take small actions. Conclusion: Global health is a somewhat neglected part of medical and community curricula. Lack of awareness about global health issues reduces the public’s capacity for collective action in exerting pressure on stakeholders, governments, and civil society in taking action. It is hoped such regular global health film screenings at local level brings literacy on urgent public health issues to the people for whom it matters most – the communities where ad-verse global health consequences eventually arise.
Introduction: Interprofessional scientific communication skills are an essential part of the medical profession. Mul-tiple research suggests poor interprofessional communication has direct correlations with poor patient outcomes. As part of the inaugural Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, a 5-minute station on science com-munication was introduced, assessed on three domains – logical thinking, communication skills, and general impres-sion. This station featured a panicky nurse calling a doctor to get them to calculate doses of a medication, using only upper primary school-level arithmetic and knowledge of ratios. Methods: 255 candidates, grouped into 3 separate geographical groups – Klang Valley, non-Klang Valley, and Borneo – participated in the MMI featuring a science communication station. Candidates were graded in the abovementioned three domains, and correlations were cal-culated between scores and various sociodemographic factors, with an objective written basic science test, and with overall scores. Also, quantitative analysis was done of the “red flag” comments for candidates deemed unsuitable for the practise of medicine. Results: The average scores for West Malaysia for logical thinking scores were higher than Borneo, with non-Klang Valley scores (4.1) significantly higher than Klang Valley (3.6). Communication scores were also significantly lower in Borneo compared to West Malaysia. General impression scores hence also showed a dis-crepancy between West Malaysian and Bornean scores. There were a total of 8 red flags, with reasons ranging from gross miscalculation with misplaced confidence, to nervous breakdowns while performing calculations. Conclusion: The present study showed that there is a distinct separation of science communication scores between geographic re-gions. Also it illustrates the yawning gap between academic knowledge and “translational” scientific knowledge. The results illustrate the need for medical curricula to boost resilience and translational computational skills in medical graduates who will be working in environments that demand usual abilities under unusual and trying circumstances.