Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 264 in total

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  1. Saimon R, Choo WY, Bulgiba A
    Asia Pac J Public Health, 2015 Mar;27(2):NP2079-92.
    PMID: 23513006 DOI: 10.1177/1010539513480229
    Understanding the factors influencing physical activity (PA) in the Asia-Pacific region is critical, given the high prevalence of inactivity in this area. The photovoice technique explores the types of PA and factors influencing PA among adolescents in Kuching, Sarawak. A total of 160 photographs were collected from participants (adolescents, n = 22, mean age = 14.27 ± 0.7 years, and parents, n = 8, mean age = 48 ± 6.8 years). Data analysis used constant comparison methods of a grounded theory. The Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity was used to categorize PA factors. Study findings were centered on the concept of safety, facilities, parental restriction, friends, cultural traits, media, community cohesiveness, and weather. The central theme was "feeling unsafe" when being outdoors. To promote PA behavior, provision of PA facilities needs to be supported by other programs that build on peer support, crime prevention, and traffic safety, together with other educational campaigns.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty Areas
  2. Edhborg M, Nasreen HE, Kabir ZN
    PMID: 25595913 DOI: 10.3402/qhw.v10.26226
    Over recent years, researchers have found evidence which indicates that the prevalence of postpartum depressive symptoms crosses cultural boundaries and is reported to be at least as high in non-Western countries as in Western countries. However, qualitative studies about new mothers' experiences from non-Western countries, such as Bangladesh, are rare, particularly in rural areas. This study aims to describe the experiences and concerns of rural Bangladeshi mothers with postpartum depressive symptoms. Open narrative interviews were conducted with 21 mothers with depressive symptoms 2-3 months postpartum, consecutively selected from a longitudinal study about prevalence and risk factors of perinatal depressive symptoms. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse data and three themes emerged: family dynamics, living at the limits of survival, and role of the cultural context after childbirth. These themes were based on six categories and 15 subcategories. The findings show that troublesome family relationships, including intimate partner violence and violence in the family, influenced the mothers' mental well-being. They and their families lived at the limit of survival and the mothers expressed fear and worries about their insecure situation regarding economic difficulties and health problems. They felt sorry for being unable to give their infants a good start in life and sad because they could not always follow the traditional norms related to childbirth. Thus, it is important to focus on the depressive symptoms among new mothers and offer counselling to those showing depressive symptoms, as the cultural traditions do not always alleviate these symptoms in the changing Bangladeshi society today.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  3. Malhotra A, Elnakib S
    J Adolesc Health, 2021 05;68(5):847-862.
    PMID: 33446401 DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.11.017
    PURPOSE: This review assesses evaluations published from 2000 to 2019 to shed light on what approaches work, especially at scale and sustainably, to prevent child marriage in low- and middle-income countries.

    METHODS: We conducted a search of electronic databases and gray literature and evaluated the methodological quality and risk of bias of included studies.

    RESULTS: A total of 30 studies met the inclusion criteria. Interventions that support girls' schooling through cash or in-kind transfers show the clearest pattern of success in preventing child marriage, with 8 of 10 medium-high quality studies showing positive results. Although limited in number, five studies on favorable job markets and targeted life skills and livelihoods training show consistent positive results. Comparatively, asset or cash transfers conditional on delaying marriage show success only among two of four evaluations, and the three studies on unconditional cash transfers for poverty mitigation show no effect. Findings also show a low success rate for multicomponent interventions with positive results in only one of eight medium-high quality studies. Further, single component interventions were much more likely to be at scale and sustainable than multicomponent interventions.

    CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that enhancement of girls' own human capital and opportunities is the most compelling pathway to delaying marriage. In contrast, low rates of success, scale-up, and sustainability of multicomponent programs requires reconsideration of this approach.

    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty*
  4. Sulaiman N, Yeatman H, Russell J, Law LS
    Nutrients, 2021 Mar 15;13(3).
    PMID: 33804160 DOI: 10.3390/nu13030945
    Living free from hunger is a basic human right. However, some communities still experience household food insecurity. This systematic literature review explored different aspects of household food insecurity in Malaysia including vulnerable groups, prevalence, risk factors, coping strategies, and the consequences of food insecurity. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Thirty-three relevant articles were selected from scientific databases such as CINAHL, Pubmed and Google Scholar, scrutiny of reference lists, and personal communication with experts in the field. The prevalence of household food insecurity in Malaysia was unexpectedly reported as high, with affected groups including Orang Asli, low-income household/welfare-recipient households, university students, and the elderly. Demographic risk factors and socioeconomic characteristics included larger household, living in poverty, and low education. Coping strategies were practices to increase the accessibility of food in their households. Consequences of household food insecurity included psychological, dietary (macro- and micronutrient intakes), nutritional status, and health impacts. In conclusion, this review confirmed that household food insecurity in Malaysia continues to exist. Nevertheless, extensive and active investigations are encouraged to obtain a more holistic and comprehensive picture pertaining to household food security in Malaysia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty/statistics & numerical data
  5. Abdul Rahman M, Sani NS, Hamdan R, Ali Othman Z, Abu Bakar A
    PLoS One, 2021;16(8):e0255312.
    PMID: 34339480 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255312
    The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is an income-based poverty index which measures multiple deprivations alongside other relevant factors to determine and classify poverty. The implementation of a reliable MPI is one of the significant efforts by the Malaysian government to improve measures in alleviating poverty, in line with the recent policy for Bottom 40 Percent (B40) group. However, using this measurement, only 0.86% of Malaysians are regarded as multidimensionally poor, and this measurement was claimed to be irrelevant for Malaysia as a country that has rapid economic development. Therefore, this study proposes a B40 clustering-based K-Means with cosine similarity architecture to identify the right indicators and dimensions that will provide data driven MPI measurement. In order to evaluate the approach, this study conducted extensive experiments on the Malaysian Census dataset. A series of data preprocessing steps were implemented, including data integration, attribute generation, data filtering, data cleaning, data transformation and attribute selection. The clustering model produced eight clusters of B40 group. The study included a comprehensive clustering analysis to meaningfully understand each of the clusters. The analysis discovered seven indicators of multidimensional poverty from three dimensions encompassing education, living standard and employment. Out of the seven indicators, this study proposed six indicators to be added to the current MPI to establish a more meaningful scenario of the current poverty trend in Malaysia. The outcomes from this study may help the government in properly identifying the B40 group who suffers from financial burden, which could have been currently misclassified.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty*
  6. Farooqui M, Hassali MA, Knight A, Shafie AA, Farooqui MA, Saleem F, et al.
    BMC Public Health, 2013;13:48.
    PMID: 23331785 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-48
    Despite the existence of different screening methods, the response to cancer screening is poor among Malaysians. The current study aims to examine cancer patients' perceptions of cancer screening and early diagnosis.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  7. Cheah WL, Wan Muda WAM, Zamh ZH
    Rural Remote Health, 2010;10(1):1248.
    PMID: 20184392
    Many studies had shown that poor growth in children is associated with malnutrition. The underlying factors are diverse, multisectoral and interrelated, ranging from biological to social, cultural and economically related. Because the highest levels of under-nutrition worldwide are found in South Asia, it is essential that policymakers in the region understand the underlying determinants, in order to design effective public health intervention programs. This is especially so if public resources are limited. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine causal relationships among the biological, behavioural and environmental factors related to malnutrition in children aged 5 years and under.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  8. Krishnan, R.
    MyJurnal
    A prospective study of 92 children with poisoning admitted to University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur is reported. Majority of the affected children were below 3 years of age and belonged to low income families. Household items, especially kerosene, and medications were most often implicated. All children recovered completely. Preventive strategies are discussed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  9. Lall P, Shaw SA, Saifi R, Sherman S, Azmi NN, Pillai V, et al.
    J Int AIDS Soc, 2017 08 02;20(1):21723.
    PMID: 28782331 DOI: 10.7448/IAS.20.1.21723
    INTRODUCTION: Cisgender and transgender woman sex workers (CWSWs and TWSWs, respectively) are key populations in Malaysia with higher HIV-prevalence than that of the general population. Given the impact economic instability can have on HIV transmission in these populations, novel HIV prevention interventions that reduce poverty may reduce HIV incidence and improve linkage and retention to care for those already living with HIV. We examine the feasibility of a microfinance-based HIV prevention intervention among CWSW and TWSWs in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    METHODS: We conducted 35 in-depth interviews to examine the acceptability of a microfinance-based HIV prevention intervention, focusing on: (1) participants' readiness to engage in other occupations and the types of jobs in which they were interested in; (2) their level of interest in the components of the potential intervention, including training on financial literacy and vocational education; and (3) possible barriers and facilitators to the successful completion of the intervention. Using grounded theory as a framework of analysis, transcripts were analysed through Nvivo 11.

    RESULTS: Participants were on average 41 years old, slightly less than half (48%) were married, and more than half (52%) identified as Muslim. Participants express high motivation to seek employment in other professions as they perceived sex work as not a "proper job" with opportunities for career growth but rather as a short-term option offering an unstable form of income. Participants wanted to develop their own small enterprise. Most participants expressed a high level of interest in microfinance intervention and training to enable them to enter a new profession. Possible barriers to intervention participation included time, stigma, and a lack of resources.

    CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that a microfinance intervention is acceptable and desirable for CWSWs and TWSWs in urban Malaysian contexts as participants reported that they were ready to engage in alternative forms of income generation.

    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  10. Bundy DA, Kan SP, Rose R
    Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg, 1988;82(2):289-94.
    PMID: 3188158
    The gastrointestinal helminth infection status of 1574 children living in a slum area of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was assessed by quantitative coprology. Almost two-thirds were infected with Trichuris trichiura, 49.6% with Ascaris lumbricoides, and 5.3% with hookworm. Infection prevalence rose rapidly to a stable asymptote at 7 years of age, and the age-intensity profile was convex with maximal values in the 5-10 year age classes. This pattern was the same for males and females, but differed markedly between different ethnic groups. The frequency distributions of A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura were highly overdispersed (k values were 0.21 and 0.27, respectively), and age-dependent over the 0-8 year age classes. This suggests that the force of infection with these nematodes is lower in infants than in older children.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty Areas
  11. Islam R, Ahmad R, Ghailan K, Hoque KE
    J Relig Health, 2020 Jun;59(3):1327-1343.
    PMID: 31134517 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-019-00832-8
    People with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) commonly pose problems to their family as well as to society because of their vulnerable health and economic conditions. Contrarily, PLWHA encounter social discrimination and adverse realities while finding it difficult to continue in their jobs. These complex phenomena interact to push them into a low economic status. A microfinance program can hopefully assist poor patients to cope with the negative economic consequences of this disease. But the conventional market-oriented microfinance institutions show reluctance to serve this group of people due to the possibilities of having credit risk. In this paper, we propose an alternative microfinancing technique that can provide a better economic life of the PLWHA while absorbing the credit risks. A comprehensive model is designed using specific Islamic financial instruments in conjugation with household economic portfolio theory. Critical realism method was adopted to construct this model. We concluded that the application of Islamic microfinance can enhance income of HIV patients while reducing the productivity-loss. This model can be useful to the microfinance practitioners and policymakers for addressing a different market segment, diversifying products, and formulating policy.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  12. Sabri MF, Wahab R, Mahdzan NS, Magli AS, Rahim HA, Suhaimi SSA, et al.
    PLoS One, 2023;18(7):e0288204.
    PMID: 37440508 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288204
    Young adults face many significant challenges to their financial well-being. The rising cost of living and unstable economies have impacted how they consume, manage, and save monthly income to maintain their standard of living. Hence, exploring the financial well-being of young adults in Malaysia is an intriguing and relevant research topic that deserves examination from multiple perspectives. This study aims to investigate how these three factors, namely financial knowledge and locus of control with financial behaviour as a mediator, are correlated with the financial well-being of low-income young adults in Malaysia. A total of 520 young adults from North, Central, South, East zones in Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia were randomly chosen using a multi-stage sampling technique as the sample of this study. Data in this study were obtained using a set of questionnaire-based survey through cross-sectional study and then scrutinized using IBM SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Science). This study discovered that financial knowledge, internal and external locus of control, and financial behaviour were significantly correlated with the financial well-being of low-income young adults. The findings also demonstrate that financial behaviour mediates the correlation between financial knowledge, both internal and external locus of control, and financial well-being. This study is one of the very few important studies that explore the link between financial literacy, locus of control, financial behaviour, and financial well-being among low-income young adults. This study also found an interesting and noteworthy fact regarding the impact of the minimum monthly wage policy on highly educated young adults in Malaysia, which is worth discussing and needs to be alerted to the policymakers and leaders of the country. Therefore, the findings of this study can be utilized as a starting point by policymakers, government organizations, and non-governmental organizations to create new initiatives aimed at raising financial well-being among the younger generation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty*
  13. Noor Jan Naing, K. O., Nor Azillah, A. A., Nooriny, I., Tan, C. H., Yeow, Y. Y., Hamidin, A.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction: Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC) is the second most common cancer among men in Malaysia. Establishing local data will help to improve the treatment strategies and lower the anxiety and depression level among NPC patients. Our aim was to compare the level of symptoms of anxiety and depression and the coping strategies employed between NPC and cancer-free patients. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study with universal sampling was conducted on 22 NPC patients and 30 cancer-free patients from the Oncology and Radiotherapy Department and Ear, Nose and Throat clinic of Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) between 12 to 29 May 2008. In this study, the symptoms of depression and anxiety were obtained by using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) while Brief COPE questionnaire was used to understand patients’ coping strategies. Results: The prevalence of NPC was higher in the Chinese, men, aged between 40 and 59 years, and those from the lower income group. The levels of anxiety and depression symptoms were found to be higher in the NPC group as compared to the cancer-free group. However, only the level of depression was found significantly related to the NPC group (p=0.002). This study also found that the two comparison groups were
    using different types of coping strategies. The NPC patients mainly used ‘acceptance’ as their coping strategy while the comparative group most often used ‘religion’. Among the types of coping strategies reported by the patients, ‘use of instrumental support’ type was found to be associated with a lower level of anxiety (p = 0.035) and ‘humour’ type was associated with lower depressive symptoms (p = 0.269). On the contrary, ‘selfblame’ type was associated with both anxiety (p =0.0001) and depression (p = 0.001) symptoms. In addition, patients with different gender, ethnicity, educational levels, and
    monthly income were also found to have significant differences in their levels of anxiety and depression as well as type of coping strategies. Conclusions: NPC patients had higher anxiety and depression levels as compared to the comparative group. Different socio-demographic backgrounds and different types of coping strategies had an influence on patients resulting in different levels of anxiety and depression.
    Study site: ENT clinic, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  14. Rohaizat, B.Y., Hassan, M.O.N.M., Davis, J.
    MyJurnal
    Social security traditionally means a social insurance program providing social protection, or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. It also hovers around the subject of social insurance, where people receive benefits or services in recognition of contributions to an insurance scheme. Providing services for medical care, aspects of social work and even industrial relations may be included as part of social security services. Lately, the term is also used to refer to basic security, a term roughly equivalent to access to basic necessities. The 1 World Conference on Social Security organised by the Brazilian Government on 1st to 5th of December 2010 stimulates the countries to adopt universal, comprehensive and equitablesocial security systems as a valid, ethical and feasible option in the process of national reforms and regional integration. The main challenge to achieving the noble objective of universal social security system is financial sustainability and social cohesion supported by political will. As seen in a number of countries, Malaysia has a mixed social security schemes comprising state and private schemes, statutory obligatory requirements on the part of
    employers as well as state social assistance programmes. Maintaining the quality of life of the individuals and their dependents has become the primary focus of policies and programmes in providing social security. Among the critical pressures on the population’s standard of living is the provision of health care. Extension of the coverage for social security is critical in ensuring social inclusion.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  15. Mariapun J, Hairi NN, Ng CW
    PLoS One, 2016;11(6):e0158685.
    PMID: 27362581 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158685
    INTRODUCTION: Socioeconomic inequalities in health represent unfairness in the health distribution of a population. Efforts to produce information on mortality distributions in many low and middle income countries (LMICs) are mostly hampered by lack of data disaggregated by socioeconomic groups. In this paper we describe how mortality statistics obtained from multiple data sources were combined to provide an evaluation of the socioeconomic distribution of mortality in Malaysia, a LMIC located in the Asia Pacific region.

    METHODS: This study has an ecological design. As a measure of socioeconomic status, we used principal component analysis to construct a socioeconomic index using census data. Districts were ranked according to the standardised median index of households and assigned to each individual in the 5-year mortality data. The mortality indicators of interest were potential years of life lost (PYLL), standardised mortality ratio (SMR), infant mortality rate (IMR) and under-5 mortality rate (U5MR). Both socioeconomic status and mortality outcomes were used compute the concentration index which provided the summary measure of the magnitude of inequality.

    RESULTS: Socially disadvantaged districts were found to have worse mortality outcomes compared to more advantaged districts. The values of the concentration index for the overall population of the Peninsula are C = -0.1334 (95% CI: -0.1605 to -0.1063) for the PYLL, C = -0.0685 (95% CI: -0.0928 to -0.0441) for the SMR, C = -0.0997 (95% CI: -0.1343 to -0.0652) for the IMR and C = -0.1207 (95% CI: -0.1523 to -0.0891) for the U5MR. Mortality outcomes within ethnic groups were also found to be less favourable among the poor.

    CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that socioeconomic inequalities disfavouring the poor exist in Malaysia.

    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty*
  16. Ho, Christopher C.K., Teo, C.H., Ng, C.J., Zulkifli, M.Z., Tan, M.H.
    MyJurnal
    The aim of this review was to analyze the gender disparities found as well as the life expectancies in Asia. An analysis of the data on gender disparities as well as life expectancies of the different Asian countries was done based on the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory Data Repository as well as the regional government databases. Middle Eastern countries have the highest male to female population ratio. The results show that in terms of population pyramid, Asia is moving towards a more geriatric population. Qatar has the highest life expectancy for men and is the only country in Asia where men live longer than women (difference of 2 years). In general, women in Asia live longer than men. High income countries like Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore have higher life expectancies as compared to those on the lower income nations. The life expectancy of Asian men still lags women. Men’s health care needs to be addressed urgently. The disparity in income-status reflecting the lifespan of men is an impetus for us to narrow the gap of health in Asian countries.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  17. Filho WL, Balogun AL, Olayide OE, Azeiteiro UM, Ayal DY, Muñoz PDC, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2019 Nov 20;692:1175-1190.
    PMID: 31539949 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.227
    Many cities across the world are facing many problems climate change poses to their populations, communities and infrastructure. These vary from increased exposures to floods, to discomfort due to urban heat, depending on their geographical locations and settings. However, even though some cities have a greater ability to cope with climate change challenges, many struggle to do so, particularly in cities in developing countries. In addition, there is a shortage of international studies which examine the links between climate change adaptation and cities, and which at the same time draw some successful examples of good practice, which may assist future efforts. This paper is an attempt to address this information need. The aim of this paper is to analyse the extent to which cities in a sample of developing countries are attempting to pursue climate change adaptation and the problems which hinder this process. Its goal is to showcase examples of initiatives and good practice in transformative adaptation, which may be replicable elsewhere. To this purpose, the paper describes some trends related to climate change in a set of cities in developing countries across different continents, including one of the smallest capital cities (Georgetown, Guyana) and Shanghai, one the world's most populous cities. In particular, it analyses their degree of vulnerability, how they manage to cope with climate change impacts, and the policies being implemented to aid adaptation. It also suggests the use of transformative approaches which may be adopted, in order to assist them in their efforts towards investments in low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure, thereby maximizing investments in urban areas and trying to address their related poverty issues. This paper addresses a gap in the international literature on the problems many cities in developing countries face, in trying to adapt to a changing climate.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
  18. Farooq F, Yusop Z, Chaudhry IS, Iram R
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2020 Mar;27(7):6904-6917.
    PMID: 31879877 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-07289-y
    The contemporary debate on globalization and gender equality has a strong impact on economic growth. The present study analyzes the impacts of globalization and gender parity on economic growth in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) 47 member countries for the period (1991-2017), using System GMM panel data technique. The results of system GMM have also been empirically estimated by making two groups (viz., low-income and high-income OIC member countries from the World Bank data classification, 2019) to examine the robustness of globalization and gender parity on economic growth. The results reveal that there is a negative impact of globalization on economic growth in the overall sample of OIC countries. When estimated by decomposing low-income countries and high-income countries, globalization has a significantly positive impact on economic growth in the case of high-income OIC countries, whereas globalization slashes GDP in the case of low-income OIC countries. The study finds that there is a positive impact of gender parity (ratio of female to male labor force work participation) on economic growth. Moreover, foreign remittances, government expenditures, capital formation, and human capital are also becoming the causes of a significant increase in economic growth in OIC member countries.
    Matched MeSH terms: Poverty
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