This paper discusses the prevalence and characteristics of epidemic hysteria among predominantly rural Malay schools in Malaysia. An illustrative episode in a Malay residential girls' school is described, and contributory factors to this outbreak are elaborated. An attempt is made to analyze the complex interweaving of psychological, religious, cultural, and sociological factors in the precipitation of the outbreak.
Viewed through the micro focus of an interpretive lens, medical anthropology remains mystified because interpretivist explanations seriously downplay the given context in which individual health seeking-behaviours occur. This paper draws upon both the interpretivist and political economy perspectives to reflect on the ethno medical practices within the Korean-Australian community in Sydney.
PIP: On August 15, 1978, the integrated parasite control/family planning program was launched by the National Family Planning Board in the Tanjong Malim Estate in Kuala Lumpur (the estate is a rubber oil palm plantation) to enhance the health status of the estate workers and their families. Personal hygiene, good toilet habits, and washing fruits and vegetables before eating were emphasized. Pre- and post-surveys of worm infestation of the estate population revealed that treatment with drugs dramatically reduced the rate of intestinal helminthiasis infection among the population. To sustain the prevention or total eradication of the disease, an ongoing educational program was initiated and included the following features: 1) increasing knowledge of the community as to how intestinal helminthiasis is transmitted, and ways of limiting transmission; 2) providing safe and sanitary toilet facilities for young children, and; 3) periodic deworming of susceptible population every 3 months. The estate members are also encouraged to plant vegetables in their backyard. The National Family Planning Board also helped the estate members organize different functional groups, such as Mothers' Group. This multifaceted approach to family planning appears to have an encouraging future, particularly in family development.
WHO's Declaration of the "Health for All" (HFA) goal was pronounced in 1978 in Alma Ata, and it was planned that HFA would be achieved through primary health care programmes and approaches by 2000. However, it is now 2002 and despite the technological advancements in medicine, science, and ICT, Health for All is far from reality. Instead, more and more conflicts are emerging with lethal consequences, such as, bioterrorism, biological agent abuse, global-terrorism, and environmental destruction is occurring at a greater scale that we have witnessed before. We may have the latest technology and knowledge today, but ironically, we are using them to inflict more suffering and pain in the world. In the Asia-Pacific, the past 30 years has seen dramatic advancement and lifestyle changes. We are now paying a high price for such progress in terms of risk factors to the health of the population, such as, ageing diseases, obesity, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and related conditions. The social, political, economic and environmental factors appeared to have deterred and negated WHO's HFA goal to attain basic human rights and health care for all. The HFA will not be achieved in the future if we do not learn from history and start taking measures now.
Using government secondary school English language textbooks from Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, we conducted a quantitative content analysis in order to identify gender stereotypes in school education. In total, 21 categories of exclusion and quality of representation were used to study gender stereotypes. Our analysis confirms a pro-male bias in textbooks: the aggregate female share is 40.4% in textual and pictorial indicators combined. Female occupations are mostly traditional and less prestigious while the characters are predominantly introverted and passive in terms of personality traits. Women are also shown to be mostly involved in domestic and in-door activities while men have a higher presence in professional roles. Systematic underrepresentation of females is evident regardless of whether we look at the text or pictures. A cross-country analysis shows that the female share in picture content is only 35.2% in Malaysia and Bangladesh. Overall, the proportion of female to male characters (text and pictures combined) is balanced in Malaysia and Indonesia (44.4% and 44.1% respectively) while this share is only 24.4% and 37.3% in Pakistani and Bangladeshi textbooks respectively. The finding of underrepresentation of women in Pakistani textbooks, in terms of quality and quantity, is robust to the selection of province-, grade- and subject-specific textbooks, as well as the range and type of categories used.
In the 1970s, Malaysia launched an export-oriented development strategy as a means of financing the nation's modernization. The success of the strategy hinged significantly on intensive recruitment of women for factory employment. I draw on descriptive qualitative research, including interviews (51), surveys (106), and ethnography in Malaysia to investigate factory women's experiences of work and work-related health risks. Discourse analysis surfaced a latent consciousness of bodily changes in relation to work. A grounded theory analysis showed a compromised access to occupational risk knowledge that may bear negatively on women's well-being and the role women's new labor identities played in mediating the meanings of work and risks. Given the predominance of women workers in low-end manufacturing globally, I aimed to contribute to theoretical and applied understandings of gender, globalization, and health.
Health care reform is an intentional, sustained and systematic process of structural change to one or more health subsystems to improve efficiency, effectiveness, patient choices and equity. Health care all over the world is continuously reforming with time. Health care reform has become an increasingly important agenda for policy change in both developed and developing countries including Malaysia. This paper provides an overview of the Malaysian health care system, its achievements, and issues and challenges leading to ongoing reform towards a more efficient and equitable health care system that possess a better quality of life for the population.
This paper presents an overview of the Malaysian healthcare system and its method of financing. The development of the healthcare delivery system in Malaysia is commendable. However, the strength and weaknesses of the public healthcare system and the financing problems encountered are also discussed. Cost of healthcare and funding of both the public and private sectors were also revealed. One must optimise the advantages of operating a health financing scheme which is affordable and controllable which contribute towards cost-containment and quality assurance. Thus, there is a need for the establishment of a National Healthcare Financing, a mechanism to sustain the healthcare delivery network and operate it as a viable option. A model of the National Health Financing Scheme (NHFS) was proposed.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents the largest infrastructure and development project in human history, and presents risks and opportunities for ecosystems, economies, and communities. Some risks (habitat fragmentation, roadkill) are obvious, however, many of the BRI's largest challenges for development and conservation are not obvious and require extensive consideration to identify. In this first BRI Horizon Scan, we identify 11 frontier issues that may have large environmental and social impacts but are not yet recognised. More generally, the BRI will increase China's participation in international environmental governance. Thus, new cooperative modes of governance are needed to balance geopolitical, societal, and environmental interests. Upgrading and standardising global environmental standards is essential to safeguard ecological systems and human societies.
The prevalence and incidence rate of hypertension among Orang Asli had been increasing due to
modernization and assimilation of outside practices such as intake of high cholesterol food, alcohol, and
smoking. Orang Asli utilize their herbs or plants to treat some illness due to the factor of logistics and the
knowledge on these nature resources since decades ago that is carried out from their ancestors. In this review
paper, hypertension genes of Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia and the utilization of ethno-medicinal plants
in reducing the clinical manifestation in hypertension were deliberated. There are quite a number of related
hypertensive genes particularly in renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) playing a pivotal role in
pathogenesis of hypertension. A genome-wide association studies showed potential candidate genes in
hypertension among Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia. However there is yet molecular study on these genes
among Orang Asli with their unique genetic profile. Noteworthy information on mechanism of ethnomedicine in treating hypertension are scarce, even the efficacy of modern medicine in treating hypertension
on Orang Asli are rare. Therefore, study on efficacy of ethno-medicine plant by Orang Asli and the
regulation effect on hypertension genes are needed to be further explored and elucidated.
ICTs (information and communication technologies) have emerged as a potent new force. Digitalization, modernization, and automation of the manufacturing process are expected to facilitate ICT adoption, resulting in increased genuine environmental concerns. This research aims to examine the impact of ICTs on environmental quality and the relationship between ICTs, environmental quality, and economic growth. Dynamic panel threshold regression was employed, and the sample countries comprised 69 developing countries from 2010 to 2019. The threshold technique will identify the precise threshold value of ICTs and highlights the impacts of ICTs on the environmental quality nexus when above and below the threshold value in developing countries. Empirical evidence suggests that ICTs positively impact environmental quality (CO2) when above the ICTs threshold value. However, ICTs provide a positive but insignificant impact on environmental quality when below the ICTs threshold value of 4.699. Additionally, ICTs affect the economic growth and environmental quality nexus, with increasing economic growth resulting in a decrease in CO2 emissions in developing countries when ICTs are below the threshold value. Thus, the ICTs threshold value should be used to ensure that ICTs adoption promotes sustainable economic growth and resolves environmental degradation issues in developing nations.
Self-awareness of poorly arranged teeth can influence the quality of life. This study aimed to report the impacts of self-perceived malocclusion in young adults and the association between demographic characteristics and oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL). In this cross-sectional study, six-hundred-forty-three subjects from Selangor, Malaysia selected using a multistage sampling technique answered the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics (PIDA) questionnaire and self-rated their dental appearance using the Aesthetic Component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need. Data were analyzed using multifactorial ANOVA to identify the association between demographic characteristics and total PIDA score. Five-hundred-twenty-four subjects (81.5%) completed the questionnaires. Overall, 87.8% had impacts on their OHRQoL. Psychological impact was the most impacted domain (75.8%), followed by dental self-confidence (59.4%), social impact (48.9%) and aesthetic concern (22.1%). 16.8% reported significant impacts on all domains. Their mean PIDA score was 36.3 (SD 17.1). Prevalence, extent and severity of impacts were higher amongst those with self-perceived malocclusion. Gender, ethnicity, and self-perceived malocclusion status were associated with PIDA score (p < 0.05). Sub-urban and rural females had significantly higher PIDA scores than sub-urban and rural males. In conclusion, majority of Malaysian young adults especially those with self-perceived malocclusion were impacted by their dental aesthetics.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women world-wide. Incidence rates in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are lower than in high income countries; however, the rates are increasing very rapidly in LMICs due to social changes that increase the risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer mortality rates in LMICs remain high due to late presentation and inadequate access to optimal care. Breast Surgery International brought together a group of breast surgeons from different parts of the world to address strategies for improving outcomes in breast cancer for LMICs at a symposium during International Surgical Week in Helsinki, Finland in August 2013. A key strategy for early detection is public health education and breast awareness. Sociocultural barriers to early detection and treatment need to be addressed. Optimal management of breast cancer requires a multidisciplinary team. Surgical treatment is often the only modality of treatment available in low-resource settings where modified radical mastectomy is the most common operation performed. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy require more resources. Endocrine therapy is available but requires accurate assessment of estrogen receptors status. Targeted therapy with trastuzumab is generally unavailable due to cost. The Breast Health Global Initiative guidelines for the early detection and appropriate treatment of breast cancer in LMICs have been specifically designed to improve breast cancer outcomes in these regions. Closing the cancer divide between rich and poor countries is a moral imperative and there is an urgent need to prevent breast cancer deaths with early detection and optimal access to treatment.
"The links between Indonesia and Johor, Malaysia, across the narrow straits have been strong for centuries. Many Johoreans trace their origins to various islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In recent years the presence of large numbers of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia has become the focus of media and political debate; it is seen not only as undermining working conditions but as aggravating fragile ethnic relations within Malaysia. The aim of this article is to examine the presence and employment of Indonesians in the southern area of Johor, and the responses of government and the public to this phenomenon."
Demographic, economic and social changes have had major impact on health and illness globally, including in Malaysia, and present significant challenges to the structure and delivery of health services. While these changes have influenced the epidemiology of disease, the diagnosis, experience and response to changes in health status for individuals and their families are influenced by additional environmental and personal factors. We describe these factors in relation to our ongoing research program on personal and social aspects of impairment and disability. The Resilience study aims to understand how people with impairments and their families live with chronic health conditions, how these conditions impact on self-esteem, social relationships and societal participation, and how structure, context and environment affect individual functioning, disability and well-being. We described our methodology and summarize the baseline data that will inform our future enquiries.