A Population Oratorical Competition between upper secondary pupils aimed at getting students interested in population problems will be held in Johore from May to June. The competition will be launched on 20th May 1981 in Segamat by En. Nordin bin Nazir the Deputy Director of Education, Johore. 81 secondary schools will be sending 184 students to participate at this oratorical competition. The Districts of Kluang, Segamat, Batu Pahat, Muar and Johore Bahru will send students who will face an elimination round during the 1st stage of the competition. The competition is jointly organized by the State Education Department and the National Family Planning Board with a funding support of $3500 from the National Family Planning Board. The Director-General, National Family Planning Board Malaysia, Datin Dr. Hajjah Nor Laily Aziz is scheduled to officiate at the opening ceremony and to give away the prizes on 27th June 1981.
Diarrhoea up till now is still a major problem in Southeast Asia with high morbidity and mortality, particularly among children under 5 years of age, with the peak in children between 6 - 24 months. In Indonesia, in 1981, it was estimated that there are 60 million episodes with 300,000 - 500,000 deaths. In the Philippines, diarrhoea ranks as a second cause of morbidity (600 per 100,000 in 1974) and second cause of infant mortality (5 per 1,000 in 1974). In Thailand, in 1980, the morbidity rate was 524 per 100,000 and the mortality rate 14 per 100,000. In Malaysia, in 1976, diarrhoea was still ranking number 5 (3.1%) as a cause of total admission and number 9 (2.2%) as a cause of total deaths. In Singapore, diarrhoea still ranks number 3 as a cause of deaths (4% of total deaths). In Bangladesh, the overall attack rates imply a prevalence of 2.0% for the entire population, with the highest for under 5 groups i.e. 4.1%. The diarrhoea episode in rural population is 85.4%, 39% of them are children under 5. The most common enteropathogens found in all countries are rotavirus followed by Enterotoxigenic E. coli, Vibrio spp., Salmonella spp., Shigella spp. and Campylobacter. Malnutrition and decline of giving breast-feeding play an important role in causing high morbidity, besides socio-economic, socio-cultural and poor environmental sanitation.
PIP: A model of the determinants of child quality and of the value of a woman's time is developed and tested using data from the Malaysian Family Life Survey of 1976-1977. Child quality is measured by educational attainment; factors influencing the value of the mother's time include size and age composition of household, family income, education, and hours worked. The results indicate that size and age composition of household affect a woman's asking wage. However, more data are needed before the effects of family structure on schooling can be measured with confidence.
A pilot, field investigation of the prevalence and treatment of alcoholism in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, and Thailand) and conducted. The methodology combined an informant study, interviewing leading alcohol and drug abuse authorities; utilising existing data; and clinical and naturalistic observation. The effects of modernisation, multiracial culture, and the unilateral focus on opiates are discussed; recommendations on treatment, education, and research are presented.
PIP:
The efficacy of a recently marketed posttesticular male oral contraceptive, Contrasperm, was assessed in a clinical trial involving 32 Malaysian volunteers ages 21-39 years. Contrasperm is claimed to be a pure botanical extract free of toxic chemicals, steroids, and hormones. The drug is believed to cause cells surrounding the sperm in the seminiferous tubules to secrete carbon dioxide, producing a weakly acidic environment that greatly increases the sperms' metabolism and reduces the pH of semen from its normal level of 7.5 to 1.5. The manufacturer claims that this drop in pH decreases motility from 95% to 0%. Semen samples were collected by masturbation from subjects to provide baseline data. 3 days after the initial sperm analysis, subjects were given 1 capsule of Contrasperm containing 10 mcg of the active ingredient. Additional semen analyses were conducted 30 minutes, 6 hours, and 24 hours after ingestion. Sperm count and sperm motility were greatly reduced in most subjects 30 minutes after ingestion. However, 6 subjects had increased sperm counts and 4 subjects demonstrated increased sperm motility, indicating an enhancing effect. At 6 hours after ingestion, 20 subjects had lowered sperm motility and 12 subjects showed normal sperm motility, contradicting the manufacturer's claim that motility is reduced to 0%. Although Contrasperm is claimed to be effective for 6-8 hours after ingestion, its effect wore off in less than 6 hours in 37% of subjects. Both sperm count and sperm motility returned to normal levels 24 hours after ingestion, confirming the reversibility of this drug. Most subjects reported mild side effects such as muscle weakness, blurred vision, dizziness, perspiration, urgency, abnormal muscle tension, and dry throat which persisted longer than 24 hours. Further studies, with proper controls, are needed to assess the reliability and toxicity of this preparation.
This preliminary report details our experience and also serves to evaluate the risk benefits of office laparoscopy for female fertility assessment in 183 subjects. The patients were admitted at about 8.00 in the morning and discharged at 3.00 to 4.00 in the afternoon after laparoscopy has been performed. Only 7. 7 percent of the subjects required inhalational anesthetic gases along with a combination of intravenous sedation and local anesthetic infiltration. The pick-up rate for pelvic abnormality is fairly high, approximately 22.4 percent. Difficulties and complications encountered during laparoscopy were minimal and easily overcome. The benefits of laparoscopy overrules the risk of complications. It is suggested that all family planning clinics involved in fertility assessment and sterilization feature laparoscopy on an but patient basis as one of its main activities.