ABSTRACT
Prevalence of obesity in Malaysia has been steadily rising over the last two decades. Therefore, the efforts towards curbing this problem is becoming increasingly necessary. The main objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the effectiveness of obesity projects conducted by the NGOs funded by the Malaysian Health Promotion Board (MHPB). In this study, the secondary data from the final reports of 22 obesity projects were analyzed to evaluate its effectiveness. All the information in the final report was transferred into the formative evaluation forms prepared by MHPB. The effectiveness of obesity projects was determined through the level of achievement of health literacy by using 21 indicators validated data extraction tool based on the RE-AIM Model. Projects which achieved 15 to 21 marks are considered to be of high quality, 8 to 14 marks are considered to be of moderate quality and 0 to 7 marks are categorized as low quality. Using the Cohen’s Kappa test to assess the inter-rater reliability towards 21 indicators validated data extraction tool based on the RE-AIM Model, it was found that there was very high level of inter-rater agreement (K = 0.868). From the 22 obesity projects studied, none was considered to be of high quality, 21 projects were found to have a moderate quality and 1 project was found to be of low quality. There was no significant difference on the percentage achievement of health literacy between different duration of project undertaken (p > 0.05). Based on the health screening of 1982 project participants, 333 (16.8%) are overweight and 354 (17.9%) are obese. In conclusion, although majority of the projects were successfully carried out by the NGOs. A follow-up study is needed to monitor lifestyles change which may eventually lead to reduction in the prevalence of obesity in the community where the projects were executed