Citation: Wan Bebakar WM, Ismail M, Sharif J. Preliminary report of an audit of diabetes control and management (DRM-ADCM) July to December 2008. Kuala Lumpur: Diabetes Registry Malaysia; 2009
This essay considers the development of the nuclear science programme in Malaysia from a transnational perspective by examining the interactions between state agents and other external nuclear-knowledge/technology related actors and agents. Going beyond the model of knowledge diffusion that brings together concerns articulated in Harris's (2011) geographies of long distance knowledge and Reinhardt's (2011) role of the expert in knowledge transfer, the proposed three-phase model of knowledge transfer theorises the pathways undertaken by a late-blooming participant of modern science and technology as the latter moves from epistemic dependency to increasing independence despite the hurdles encountered, and the underdevelopment of many areas of its technoscientific economy. The model considers tensions stemming from the pressures of expediency for meeting national developmental goals on the one side, and the call to support the objectives of basic science on the other. The three phases of the model are epistemic transition, epistemic transplantation and localisation, and epistemic generation (ETTLG). As additional support for the proposed model, three arguments are proffered as deeper explanations of the epistemic goal by using Malaysia as a case study: knowledge transfer for political legitimization, knowledge transfer for countering agnotology, and knowledge transfer for social engineering and science diplomacy.
The enigmatic 'Spectacled Flowerpecker'-a probable new bird species from the island of Borneo-was first sighted in the Danum Valley of Sabah, Malaysia in 2009. However, the absence of a holotype specimen has prevented its formal scientific description. Since then only a handful of reports from widely disparate localities across the island have emerged, all from lowland sites and often in close association with fruiting mistletoe. Here, we report the long-awaited capture of a specimen of this putative new species and confirm its morphological and molecular distinctiveness as a novel species in the genus Dicaeum.
Tenothrips keruing sp. n. is described from Malaysia. This new species was taken from the flowers of Dipterocarpus sublamellatus (local name Keruing kerut) during the recent mass-flowering. The male of this species has a pair of stout setae on abdominal tergite IX, and there are no sternal pore plates. A key to species of Tenothrips from Indomalaysia is provided.
Introduction: The Royal College of Medicine Perak under Universiti Kuala Lumpur started its own undergraduate medical degree programme in 2007. As part of the review and evaluation of communication skills (CS) training, the performance of the two pioneer batches of final year students in CS Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) stations in the 2012 and 2013 were analysed.
Methods: The CS OSCE stations were analysed based on the percentage of students obtaining a satisfactory performance in each CS component. Overall performance in each CS component was considered satisfactory, if ≥ 50% of students achieved satisfactory performance or unsatisfactory, if < 50% of students achieved satisfactory performance. The two cohorts were compared for any significant statistical difference (p < 0.05) in their performance.
Results: Satisfactory performance was obtained in basic CS (courtesy, appropriate non-verbal and verbal CS), stating intention of session, recognizing patient’s cues, checking and addressing patient’s perceptions and concerns, checking patient’s understanding, breaking bad news and maintaining a professional attitude. The performance was unsatisfactory in assessing prior knowledge, discussing patient management and checking patient’s coping skills. Both the two cohorts’ performance did not differ significantly.
Conclusion: Overall the students’ performance was satisfactory except for assessing prior knowledge, discussing management and checking patients’ coping skills.
Introduction: A cross-sectioned study was carried out on 1016 drug addicts from Johor state to better understand their profile.
Method: A structured questionnaire prepared in three languages was used to collect the data which was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
Result & Discussion: The overall mean age of the respondents was 33.8 (95% CI= 33.3 - 34.4) years and ranged from 16 to 61 years. ANOVA post hoc multiple comparison tests showed that there was a significant difference in the mean age between Malays and Chinese (p<0.05). The majority of the respondents were Malay (79.6%) and had secondary education (72.1%) or primary education (21.7%). The majority (79%) was either semi-skilled or unskilled. More than 70% had mores than five siblings. About 36% of the respondents had past a history of discipline problem at school. The majority (99.6%) of the drugs addicts had smoked before and more than 90% were currently smoking. More than 80% had consumed alcoholic beverages. The majority did not use condom when they had sex. Only 24% stated that they did use a needle or syringe that had previously been used by someone else. Less than 4% had either bleached or boiled the needle or syringe that had previously been used by someone else. About 17% were tested positive for HIV. The mean age at which the respondents first started injecting drugs was 21.5 (95% CI= 20.7 - 22.2) years. ANOVA post hoc multiple comparison tests showed that there was no significant difference in the mean age of the different ethnic groups at which the respondents first started injecting drugs. The majority (84.2%) of the drug addicts started injecting drugs between 10 and 20 years of age. Friends introduced 80% of the drug addicts to drugs. The common reasons given for first taking drugs was " I was curious about the feeling of taking drugs (43.6%), "my friends asked me to try" (23.4%), "to release tension" (15.6%) and 5% stated "to try for fun", and 3% that they were "depressed". The majority (64.2%) of the drug addicts spend RM 500 or more per month on drugs and more than 10% of them spend as much as RM 1000 or more per month.
Conclusion: These results indicate an urgent need for a more comprehensive prevention program involving family, schools, commmunities and the media and aimed at reducing drug abuse. Keywords: Profile, drug addicts, Malaysia
Barraclough S. The Malaysian tobacco industry, globalisation and public health: New opportunities for tobacco control. Public policy, culture and the impact of globalisation in Malaysia. Selangor, Malaysia: Malaysian Social Science Association; 2004. p. 112-27
Citation: Sherina Mohd Sidik. Chapter 36: Primary Care Research in Malaysia. In: Goodyear-Smith F, Mash B (editors). International Perspectives on Primary Care Research. Boca Raton, Florida, United States of America: CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group), World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA); 2016, p199-201
Citation: A case study on institutional development in the water and sanitation sectors and integration of PHC with rural water supply and sanitation in Malaysia. Manila: World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Western Pacific; 1985
Khoo EM, Sararaks S, Lee WK, Liew SM, Abdul Samad A, Cheong AT, et al.
ISBN: 978-967-5398-17-9
Citation: Khoo EM, Sararaks S, Lee WK, Liew SM, Abdul Samad A, Cheong AT, et al. Patient Safety in MOH Primary Care Clinics - A Community Trial. Kuala Lumpur: Institute for Health Systems Research; 2010
Citation: Savedoff WD, Smith AL. Achieving Universal Health Coverage: Learning from Chile, Japan, Malaysia and Sweden. Maine, United States: Result for Development Institute; 2011
Over the last hundred years, most countries have made substantial progress toward universal health coverage. The shared trends includes rising incomes, increasing total health expenditures and an expanding role for government in improving access to health care. Despite this, countries vary significantly in their particular routes to universal health coverage. These routes are shaped by prominent leaders and strong popular movements and framed by particular moral claims and world views. They are affected by unpredictable events related to economic cycles, wars, epidemics and initiatives in other public policy spheres. They are also influenced by a country’s own institutional development and experiences in other countries. As a result of these highly contingent paths, countries reach universal health coverage at different income levels and with disparate institutional arrangements for expanding health care access and mitigating financial risk. This paper examines the histories of attaining universal health coverage in four countries – Sweden, Japan, Chile and Malaysia. It shows that domestic pressures for universalizing access to health care are extremely varied, widespread, and persistent. Secondly, universal health coverage is everywhere accompanied by a large role for government, although that role takes many forms. Third, the path to universal health coverage is contingent, emerging from negotiation rather than design. Finally, universal health coverage is attained incrementally and over long periods of time. These commonalities are shared by all four cases despite substantial differences in income, political regimes, cultures, and health sector institutions. Attention to these commonalities will help countries seeking to expand health coverage today.
Adyas A, Akazili J, Awoonor-Williams J, Dalingjong P, Ellangovan KK, Ismail MS, et al.
Citation: Adyas A, et al. UHC Primary Health Care Self-Assessment Tool. Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage: Primary Health Care
Technical Initiative; 2016
Sivasampu S, Lim Y, Abdul Rahman N, Hwong WY, Goh PP, Abdullah NH
Citation: Sivasampu S, Lim Y, Abdul Rahman N, Hwong WY, Goh PP, Abdullah NH. National Medical Care Statistics: Primary Care, 2012. Kuala Lumpur: National Clinical Research Centre, Ministry of Health, Malaysia; 2014
Citation: Awin N. A Review of Primary Health Care in Malaysia. A Report for the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region. Manila: World Health Organization Western Pacific Region; 2001
Jaafar S, Suhaili MR, Mohd Noh K, Zainal Ehsan F, Lee FS
Citation: Jaafar S, Suhaili MR, Mohd Noh K, Zainal Ehsan F, Lee FS. Primary Healh Care: Key To Intersectoral Action For Health And Equity. World Health Organization; 2007
This study attempts to trace changes in the wet spells over Peninsular Malaysia based on the daily rainfall data from 32 selected rainfall stations which include four sub-regions; northwest, west, south and east, for the period of 1975 to 2004. Six wet spells indices comprising of the main characteristics (maximum, mean, standard deviation), the persistency of two consecutive wet days and the frequency of the short and long duration of wet spells will be used to identify whether or not these indices increase or decrease over Peninsular Malaysia during the monsoon seasons. The study indicates that the eastern areas of the peninsula could be considered as the wettest areas since almost all the indices of wet spells over these areas are higher than over the other regions during the northeast monsoon (NE). The Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test revealed that almost all of the stations located in the eastern areas of the peninsula exhibited a positive trend in the mean, variability and persistency of wet spells indices during the NE monsoon, while a negative trend was observed during the southwest monsoon (SW) in these areas. Moreover, these indices showed a positive trend, and at the same time a decreasing trend was observed in the frequency of the long wet spells in most stations located over the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia during the SW monsoon for the period of 1975 to 2004.
The microbial composition in coastal water of the Port Dickson beach in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia was analyzed using several microbial indicators for the purpose of selecting the best indicator for marine water pollution. The indicators studied were total coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC), fecal streptococci (FS) and coliphage. Five locations were selected along the Port Dickson beaches and samplings were carried out in 1998 and 2001. The results showed an increase in the number of total coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC) and fecal streptococci (FS) between these two sampling by 98.12%, 86.12% and 99%, respectively. The numbers of TC, FC and FS exceeded the recommended limit for recreational seawater based on U.S. EPA 1986 standard. There was a positive correlation between TC, FC and FS and negative to coliphages.
This study highlights the advantage of functional data approach in assessing and comparing the PM10 pollutant behaviour as an alternative statistical approach during and between the two extreme haze years (1997 and 2005) that have been reported in Selangor, state of Malaysia. The aim of the study was to improvise the current conventional methods used in air quality assessment so that any unforeseen implicit information can be revealed and the previous research findings can be justified. An analysis based on the daily diurnal curves in place of discrete point values was performed. The
analysis results provided evidences of the influence of the change in the climate (due to the El-Nino event), the different levels of different emission sources and meteorological conditions on the severity of the PM10 problem. By means of the cummulative exceedence index and the functional depth method, most of the monitoring stations for the year 2005 experienced the worst day of critical exceedences on the 10th of August, while for the year 1997 it occurred between 13th and 26th September inclusively at different dates among the stations.
This paper aims to estimate the Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) parameters and predicts the T-year return levels of extreme rainfall events using the Partial Duration Series (PDS) method based on the hourly rainfall data of five stations in Peninsular Malaysia. In particular, the GPD parameters are estimated using five methods namely the method of Moments (MOM), the probability weighted moments (PWM), the L-moments (LMOM), the Trimmed L-moments (TLMOM) and the Maximum Likelihood (ML) and the performance of the T-year return level of each estimation method is analyzed based on the RMSE measure obtained from Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, we suggest the weighted average model, a model which assigns the inverse variance of several methods as weights, to estimate the T-year return level. This paper contributes to the hydrological literatures in terms of three main elements. Firstly, we suggest the use
of hourly rainfall data as an alternative to provide a more detailed and valuable information for the analysis of extreme rainfall events. Secondly, this study applies five methods of parametric approach for estimating the GPD parameters and predicting the T-year return level. Finally, in this study we propose the weighted average model, a model that assigns the inverse variance of several methods as weights, for the estimation of the T-year return level.
Climate changes have become serious issues that have been widely discussed by researchers. One of the issues concerns with the study in changes of rainfall patterns. Changes in rainfall patterns affect the dryness and wetness conditions of a region. In this study, the three-dimensional loglinear model was used to fit the observed frequencies and to model the expected frequencies of wet class transition on eight rainfall stations in Peninsular Malaysia. The expected frequency values could be employed to determine the odds value of wet classes of each station. Further, the odds values were used to estimate the wet class of the following month if the wet class of the previous month and current month were identified. The wet classification based on SPI index (Standardized Precipitation Index). For station that was analyzed, there was no difference found were between estimated and observed wet classes. It was concluded that the loglinear models can be used to estimate the wetness classes through the estimates of odds values.