MyMedR

Approximately 3.5 million Nepalese are working as migrant workers in the Gulf countries, Malaysia, and India. Every year there are more than 1000 deaths and many hundreds cases of injuries among Nepalese workers in these countries excluding India. A postmortem examination of migrant workers is not carried out in most of these countries, and those with work-related injuries are often sent back to home. Uninsured migrant workers also do not have easy access to health care services in host countries due to the high medical and hospital fees. Greater efforts are needed to protect the health and well-being, labor rights, and human rights of migrant workers from Nepal and other South-Asian nations. There is a need to enforce universal labor laws in these countries and to develop accurate records of mortality and morbidity and their causes.

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Fulltext Reducing the stigma of mental health disorders with a focus on low- and middle-income countries

Javed A, Lee C, Zakaria H, Buenaventura RD, Cetkovich-Bakmas M, Duailibi K, et al.

Asian J Psychiatr, 2021 Apr;58:102601.

PMID: 33611083 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102601

Mental health disorders are a burgeoning global public health challenge, and disproportionately affect the poor. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear 80 % of the mental health disease burden. Stigma associated with mental health results in delayed help seeking, reduced access to health services, suboptimal treatment, poor outcomes and an increased risk of individuals' human rights violations. Moreover, widespread co-occurrence of physical comorbidities such as noncommunicable diseases with mental health disorders makes the treatment of both conditions challenging and worsens prognosis. This paper explores various aspects of stigma towards mental health with a focus on LMICs and assesses measures to increase help-seeking and access to and uptake of mental health services. Stigma impacts persons living with mental illness, their families and caregivers and healthcare professionals (mental health professionals, non-psychiatric specialists and general practitioners) imparting mental health care. Cultural, socio-economic and religious factors determine various aspects of mental health in LMICs, ranging from perceptions of health and illness, health seeking behavior, attitudes of the individuals and health practitioners and mental health systems. Addressing stigma requires comprehensive and inclusive mental health policies and legislations; sustainable and culturally-adapted awareness programs; capacity building of mental health workforce through task-shifting and interprofessional approaches; and improved access to mental health services by integration with primary healthcare and utilizing existing pathways of care. Future strategies targeting stigma reduction must consider the enormous physical comorbidity burden associated with mental health, prioritize workplace interventions and importantly, address the deterioration of population mental health from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Malaysia (country/area statements)

Asian Pac Popul Programme News, 1985 Sep;14(3):15-8.

PMID: 12267449

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Fulltext Sexual and reproductive health and rights post 2015--challenges and opportunities

Allotey P, Reidpath DD

BJOG, 2015 Jan;122(2):152-5.

PMID: 25394350 DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.13177

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights*

Fulltext Premarital HIV testing in Malaysia: a qualitative exploratory study on the views of major stakeholders involved in HIV prevention

Barmania S, Aljunid SM

BMC Int Health Hum Rights, 2017 05 10;17(1):12.

PMID: 28490382 DOI: 10.1186/s12914-017-0120-8

BACKGROUND: HIV screening has existed in numerous methods as an important part of HIV prevention efforts over the years. Premarital HIV testing for couples who wish to marry has been implemented in a number of regions, which often operate in a mandatory rather than voluntary basis and is considered a contentious issue, with viewpoints held in favour and against. One such region is Malaysia which has a policy of mandatory premarital HIV testing of prospective Muslim married couples. The purpose of this study is to understand stakeholders' views on premarital HIV testing given the Malaysian Islamic context.

METHODS: 35 in-depth face to face semi-structured interviews were undertaken with key stakeholder groups involved in HIV prevention policy in Malaysia, namely, officials from the Ministry of Health, religious leaders and people living with HIV. Participants were recruited from the Klang Valley area, from July to December 2013, using purposive sampling techniques. Inclusion criteria necessitated that participants were over the age of 18 and provided full consent. Interviews were audiotaped, followed a standardised topic guide, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a framework analysis.

RESULTS: Participants identified pre-marital HIV testing as an effective HIV prevention policy implemented in Malaysia and was viewed, for the most part, as a positive initiative across all stakeholders. Religious leaders were supportive of testing as it provides a protective mechanism, in line with the teachings of the Shariah, while Ministry of Health officials considered it a normal part of their HIV prevention screening initiatives. However, there were concerns surrounding issues such as confidentiality, counselling and discrimination surrounding the test described by the PLHIV group.

CONCLUSION: The findings of this study show that among the participants interviewed was strong support for mandatory premarital HIV testing, which could possibly expose the vulnerability to HIV, reluctance to test and other areas in the HIV response in Malaysia that need to be addressed. Furthermore, although international health organisations are vehemently against mandatory premarital HIV testing, the strong local support for such measures and the mismatch between these views is worth exploring in more detail, given the cultural, social and religious context.

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Fulltext Mandatory addiction treatment for people who use drugs: global health and human rights analysis

Lunze K, Idrisov B, Golichenko M, Kamarulzaman A

BMJ, 2016 Jun 09;353:i2943.

PMID: 27284009 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.i2943

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights/standards*

Fulltext Healthcare is not universal if undocumented migrants are excluded

Legido-Quigley H, Pocock N, Tan ST, Pajin L, Suphanchaimat R, Wickramage K, et al.

BMJ, 2019 Sep 16;366:l4160.

PMID: 31527060 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l4160

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Fulltext Self care interventions to advance health and wellbeing: a conceptual framework to inform normative guidance

Narasimhan M, Allotey P, Hardon A

BMJ, 2019 Apr 01;365:l688.

PMID: 30936087 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l688

Manjulaa Narasimhan and colleagues argue that there is a pressing need for a clearer conceptualisation of self care to support health policy

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Fulltext Global health and human rights for a postpandemic world

Khosla R, Allotey P, Gruskin S

BMJ Glob Health, 2020 08;5(8).

PMID: 32819918 DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003548

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights*

Experiments and rights

Vollrath J

Bioethics, 1989 Apr;3(2):93-105.

PMID: 11649247 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.1989.tb00331.x

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights*

Fulltext The importance of Good Clinical Practice guidelines and its role in clinical trials

Vijayananthan A, Nawawi O

Biomed Imaging Interv J, 2008 Jan;4(1):e5.

PMID: 21614316 MyJurnal DOI: 10.2349/biij.4.1.e5

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) is an international ethical and scientific quality standard for the design, conduct, performance, monitoring, auditing, recording, analyses and reporting of clinical trials. It also serves to protect the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial subjects. It is very important to understand the background of the formation of the ICH-GCP guidelines as this, in itself, explains the reasons and the need for doing so. In this paper, we address the historical background and the events that led up to the formation of these guidelines. Today, the ICH-GCP guidelines are used in clinical trials throughout the globe with the main aim of protecting and preserving human rights.

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Fulltext Domestic Violence Against Women in Malaysia: What Do We Do?

Ong, Elizabeth Tieng Tieng

Borneo Journal of Medical Sciences, 2018;12(101):23-24.

MyJurnal

Since 1996, World Health Organisation (WHO) and member countries, through the World Health Assembly Resolution 49.25 acknowledged violence (including violence against women) (VAW) as a serious public health issue. The United Nations, at its Sixty-second General Assembly on 7 February 2008 not only reiterated the health impact of VAW but also the rights dimension of VAW and sees it â€œâ€¦as an offence against the dignity and integrity of the victimâ€¦ and that all forms of violence against women seriously violate and impair or nullify the enjoyment of women of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and constitute a major impediment to the ability of women to make use of their capabilitiesâ€.

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Unesco in Asia and the Pacific: 40 years on

UNESCO. Regional Office for Education in Asia and the Pacific

Bull Unesco Reg Off Educ Asia Pac, 1986 Nov.

PMID: 12342774

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights*

Health imperatives in foreign policy: the case of Malaysia

Barraclough S, Phua KL

Bull World Health Organ, 2007 Mar;85(3):225-9.

PMID: 17486215

Malaysia's global, regional and bilateral international health relations are surveyed against the historical backdrop of the country's foreign policy. Malaysia has always participated in multilateral agencies, most notably the World Health Organization, as such agencies are part of the longstanding fabric of "good international citizenship". The threats of infectious diseases to human health and economic activity have caused an intensification and an organizational formalization of Malaysian health diplomacy, both regionally and bilaterally. Such diplomacy has also established a basis for developing a wider set of cooperative relationships that go beyond responding to the threat of pandemics. As Malaysia approaches "developed" status, its health sector is becoming increasingly integrated into the global economy through joint research and development ventures and transnational investment. At the same time, it will have the technological, financial and human resources to play an expanded altruistic role in global and regional health.

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights

Barcelona 2002: law, ethics, and human rights. Global battle cry: health is a right, not a commodity

Fernandez I

Can HIV AIDS Policy Law Rev, 2002 Dec;7(2-3):80-4.

PMID: 14743815

Health is a fundamental right, not a commodity to be sold at a profit, argues Irene Fernandez in the second Jonathan Mann Memorial Lecture delivered on 8 July 2002 to the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona. Ms Fernandez had to obtain a special permit from the Malaysian government to attend the Conference because she is on trial for having publicly released information about abuse, torture, illness, corruption, and death in Malaysian detention camps for migrants. This article, based on Ms Fernandez' presentation, describes how the policies of the rich world have failed the poor world. According to Ms Fernandez, the policies of globalization and privatization of health care have hindered the ability of developing countries to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The article decries the hypocrisy of the industrialized nations in increasing subsidies to farmers while demanding that the developing world open its doors to Western goods. It points out that the rich nations have failed to live up their foreign aid commitments. The article concludes that these commitments--and the other promises made in the last few years, such as those in the United Nations' Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS--can only become a reality if they are translated into action.

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights*

"Clutching a knifeblade": human rights and development from Asian women's perspective

Sancho-liao N

Focus Gend, 1993 Jun;1(2):31-6.

PMID: 12345217

Matched MeSH terms: Human Rights*

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