PIP: In the 3 day workshop of the Southeast Asian Region on the Financial Management of Population/Family Planning Programs held from March 15 to 17 it was recommended that there by standardization of financial reporting procedures by country programs for population planning. Related to this recommendation was the proposal that measurement of cost benefit and cost effective analysis of country programs be undertaken by the Research and Evaluation Units of the respective population organizations in close coordination with the financial managers. Other major recommendations included: 1) closer coordination between donor agencies and policy making bodies of country programs in the disbursement of funds; 2) more exchange of experiences, ideas, technical knowledge on the financial management of country programs in the Inter G overnmental Coordinating Committee for Southeast Asian countries; and 3) inclusion of applicable financial management topics in the training of clinical staff and followup in actual operation. The priority areas identified for the Inter Governmental Coordinating Committee countries (Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines) are financial planning; generation of resources and budgeting and allocation of funds; accounting and disbursement of funds; financial management at the clinic level; use of and control of foreign aid; and cost effectiveness, benefit analysis and financial reporting.
MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern; Developing Countries; Economics; Financial Management*; Health Planning; Organization and Administration*
Cryptococcal infection of the brain as encountered in a tropical country is reviewed. The meningitic form is not uncommon and there has been, in the last decade, an apparent, if not real, rise in incidence in Malaysia as in Singapore. Only exceptionally was there overt evidence of immunological deficiency. Hydrocephalus was present in about three-quarters of the patients with meningitis and shunts were employed readily. The presence of multiple small intracerebral cysts could be suspected clinically but treatment for this complication was ineffective. The antifungal agent used most frequently was 5-fluorocytosine. Resistance to this drug developed in about one patient in four. There is a need for further epidemiological studies and for a continuing search for new antifungal agents.
PIP: 40 experts representing Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, and the Philippines participated in a 3-day workshop in Manila in March 1976 for the purpose of discussing and proposing ways of dealing with the financial problems confronting the population programs of the individual countries. The Inter-Governmental Coordinating Committee for Southeast Asia Family/Population Planning sponsored the workshop. The recommendations made at the meeting were: 1) standardization of financing reporting procedures by the region's country programs on family planning; 2) closer coordination between donor agencies and policy-making bodies of country programs in the disbursement of funds; 3) frequent exchanges of experiences, ideas, technicaL knowledge, and other matters pertaining to the financial management of such programs; and 4) inclusion of applicable financial management topics in the training of clinical staffs and those involved in follow-up operations. Additionally, a proposal was made that national population organizations or committees develop research and evaluation units. Workshop discussion sessions focused on financial planning and management, accounting and disbursement of funds, use and control of foreign aid, cost of effectiveness and benefit analysis, and financial reporting.
MeSH terms: Asia, Southeastern; Congresses as Topic*; Economics; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Family Planning Services; Financial Management*; Health Planning*; Health Planning Guidelines*; International Cooperation*; Teaching
Necropsies were performed on 285 consecutively unclaimed Orang Asli bodies from Gombak Orang Asli Hospital during an eight-year period from May 1967 to April 1975. Of the 25 malignant neoplasms, hepatocellular carcinoma was by far the commonest (36%). The nine patients with this neoplasm had coexistant macronodular cirrhosis. There were 20 cases of cirrhosis; 45% of these had coexistant hepatocellular carcinoma. The 53,000 Orang Aslis living in West Malaysia comprise three tribes, the Negrito, Senoi, and Melayu Asli (Proto Malays). The Sinoi appear to have a high predilection for liver cancer, all our nine cases occurring in this group. These aboriginal people live in the jungles where they practice shifting cultivation and maintain their own dietary and social customs. Detailed studies of their dietary habits may provide a clue to the etiology of liver cancer in these people.
Malaysian Sciuridae are often parasitised by 2 species of Hepatocystis which were described as a single species Hepatocystis vassali malayensis by Field and Edeson, (1950). One of them corresponds to the majority of forms seen by Field and Edeson; it is redescribed herein and raised to specific status: H. v. malayensis becomes H. malayensis Field and Edeson, 1950. By the morphological characteristics of its gametocytes and schizonts, H. malayensis is related to H. kochi. The evolution of tissue schizonts studied at liver biopsies and autopsies of squirrels captured shortly before examination is of a peculiar type: an immunological tissue reaction appears with the hyperinfestation of the Rodents and controls the growth of the schizonts.
Hepatocystis brayi n. sp. is described and separated from the second species parasitising Malaysian Sciuridae, H. malayensis Field and Edeson, 1950. H. brayi is characterized by: 1) the evolution of its tissue schizonts which are intracellular throughout all their development; the cytoplasm and the nucleus of the host cell are highly hypertrophied; 2) the scarcity of the colloid. The schizogony persists for several months in the liver of infected animals and the gametocytaemia apparently undergoes seasonal relapses. H. brayi is a parasite of hosts occurring in the middle and under canopy, H. malayensis the middle and top canopy.
The development of H. brayi was followed mainly in C. variipenis up to the stage of mature oocysts. Unlike H. kochi, the oocysts of H. brayi develop at the same site as those of Plasmodium between the epithelium and the basal membrane of the stomach.
A new Haemoproteid of Malaysian Microchiroptera (Hepatochstis rodhaini n. sp.) is described; it is classified in the genus Hepatocystis because of the morphology of its gametocytes and tissue schizonts.
Three species of commonly eaten shellfish found in Malaysian coastal waters were examined for the presence of common bacterial enteropathogens. Vibrio parahaemolyticus, non-agglutinating vibrios, and various serotypes of enteropathogenic E. coli were isolated from a large proportion of them. Salmonella were isolated in two instances. High colony counts with evidence of faecal contamination indicated the strong possibility of pulltion being the cause for the presence of these enteropathogens. Methods of cooking and eating these shellfish enhance their likelihood of acting as vehicles of diarrhoeal disease.
MeSH terms: Mental Disorders/epidemiology; Culture; Delivery of Health Care; Health Facilities; Humans; Malaysia; Medicine, Traditional; Population Density; Singapore; Taiwan; Thailand
The development of Breinlia booliati is described in its natural host, Rattus sabanus and in an inbred strain of laboratory albino rat. The growth of the parasite is similar in both the rat hosts. The third moult occurs between six-eight days and the final moult between 24-28 days. Larvae were recovered initially from the skin and carcass. After five weeks, developing stages were seen only in the thoracic and abdominal cavities, the site of development of the adult worms. Worms became sexually mature by 11-12 weeks and there was considerable growth in length of the female worms after this stage.