Yet in a world increasingly enamoured with grand industrial strategies and splashy technology investments, Sara helps with something more fundamental – improving public health through everyday economics. Choice allows families to align purchases with their own health needs, which is an under-appreciated feature of effective social policy. This is a central lesson of social policy: good intentions must be matched by fiscal reality. Lessons beyond MalaysiaWhat Sara illustrates is that effective social protection does not require endless bureaucracy or ideological purity about cash versus in-kind aid. Sara does by recognising that rice, soap and school stationery are as much part of public health as clinics and hospitals.

Source: The Star February 24, 2026 14:07 UTC