The midwives play an important role in maternal and child health in developing countries, but they are rarely involved in providing family planning services, except in Indonesia. This article underscores the midwives' crucial role in supplying modern contraceptive methods in Indonesia. Data for this analysis came from 8 waves of the Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS). The main analysis was confined to 17 216 current users of modern methods from the 2017 IDHS. The midwives delivered contraceptives to 53% of the modern-method users in Indonesia. Multinomial logistic regression shows that the odds of users obtaining their contraceptive supplies from the midwives was significantly associated with age, parity, urban-rural location, region, education, wealth, exposure to family planning, and method type. The midwives help to reduce the doctors' workload for them to focus on specialized services. Developing countries can learn from the Indonesian experience to ensure equitable access to family planning services.
Malaysia was slow to begin its COVID-19 immunization program for various reasons. However, it is one of the fastest developing countries to vaccinate 80% of its adult population. Nontraditional health leadership played a large role in the implementation of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP). Independent opinions from academia also helped the NCIP and may be useful as a way of pushing forward recommendations that may otherwise be difficult to make.
Plasmodium knowlesi is an emerging species for malaria in Malaysia, particularly in East Malaysia. This infection contributes to almost half of all malaria cases and deaths in Malaysia and poses a challenge in eradicating malaria. The aim of this study was to develop a predictive model for P. knowlesi susceptibility areas in Sabah, Malaysia, using geospatial data and artificial neural networks (ANNs). Weekly malaria cases from 2013 to 2014 were used to identify the malaria hotspot areas. The association of malaria cases with environmental factors (elevation, water bodies, and population density, and satellite images providing rainfall, land surface temperature, and normalized difference vegetation indices) were statistically determined. The significant environmental factors were used as input for the ANN analysis to predict malaria cases. Finally, the malaria susceptibility index and zones were mapped out. The results suggested integrating geospatial data and ANNs to predict malaria cases, with overall correlation coefficient of 0.70 and overall accuracy of 91.04%. From the malaria susceptibility index and zoning analyses, it was found that areas located along the Crocker Range of Sabah and the East part of Sabah were highly susceptible to P. knowlesi infections. Following this analysis, targetted entomological mapping and malaria control programs can be initiated.
Parental protective factors do play an important role in preventing Internet addiction. A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure health risk behaviors among Malaysian adolescents. The prevalence of Internet addiction was significantly higher among adolescents with perceived lack of parental supervision (30.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 28.7-31.4]) and lack of parental connectedness (30.1% [95% CI = 28.5-31.7]), compared with their counterparts. Adolescents who perceived a lack of parental supervision, respect for privacy, connectedness, and bonding were more likely to have Internet addiction: (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.27-1.52), (aOR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.16-1.31), (aOR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.02-1.16), (aOR = 1.06; 95% CI = 1.00-1.12), respectively. Among girls, Internet addiction was associated with those who perceived lack in all 4 parental factors, while among boys, those who perceived lack of parental supervision and respect for privacy were more prone to Internet addiction.
This study aimed to identify the prevalence of psychological distress and its association with sociodemographic characteristics, burden of care, and the coping strategies used by childminders in residential homes. A total of 151 childminders (median age = 39; 64.7% female) participated in the study. The prevalence of psychological distress was 59.4%, and 74.0% recorded mild to moderate burden. Multivariate analyses showed that caregiver burden (adjusted beta = 0.464, P = .01), lesser application of problem-focused coping (adjusted beta = -0.292, P = .012), lower salary (adjusted beta = -0.196, P = .040), and lower educational qualification (adjusted beta = -0.212, P = .038) predicted higher psychological distress. Regular screening of psychological distress and burden of care is recommended among this population.
Nurses' preparedness has been very important for them to treat patients effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic and serve the community. Nurses provide a vital role in mitigating the effects of health crises. In order to help nurses better understand their skills, abilities, and knowledge, as well as the actions that they should take to manage care, the research aims of this study are to (1) investigate the level of preparedness, readiness, and anxiety among nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak in Sabah, Malaysia; (2) examine the effects of various differences in preparedness and readiness among nurses; and (3) examine the effect of COVID-19 preparedness on anxiety among nurses. The results revealed that the nurses were moderately competent in managing the COVID-19 care situation. Each of the 3 differentiating characteristics (age, work experience, and previous disaster experience) did not predict how nurses would manage COVID-19 preparedness significantly. Besides, we also found only 2 dimensions of preparedness (familiarity with epidemiology and surveillance and familiarity with psychological issues) significantly predicted nurses' anxiety levels. Familiarity with epidemiology and surveillance predicted nurses' anxiety positively; in contrast, familiarity with psychological issues negatively influenced nurses' anxiety.