Mortality estimates are important parameters for health monitoring and are routinely used as evidence for health policy and planning. This study aimed to estimate the mortality component of Burden of Disease in Malaysia in 2008. The 2008 mortality data from the Statistics Department were used to estimate cause-specific mortality (by age and sex) in Malaysia. Data were coded using the ICD10 (International Classification of Disease) coding. Calculation of mortality component of Burden of Disease (ie: Years of Life Lost (YLL) was done using the standard Global Burden of Disease Methodology. The total estimated deaths in Malaysia in 2008 were 124,857, of which 72,202 (57.8%) were males. The total years of life lost (YLL) for the Malaysian population in 2008 was 1.51 million in which 0.92 million (60.7%) was among males. Almost three quarter (68%) of the burden of premature deaths resulted from non-communicable diseases, followed by communicable diseases (20%) and injury (12%). Among the top three leading causes of YLL were ischaemic heart disease (17.1%), stroke (9.6%) and road traffic injuries (8.3%). In Malaysia, premature mortality mainly contributed by non-communicable diseases followed by communicable diseases and injury. A multi-agency collaboration is needed to prevent premature death and to improve quality of life.
High-risk sexual behavior among young adults is concerning to clinicians, public health practitioners
and policy makers because it is associated with unintended health outcomes including transmission of
sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy. This paper analyzes how knowledge
of HIV, experience with dating behavior, and perception of peer behavior factors are associated with
having sexual intercourse and use of condoms among adolescent students in Malaysia. National data
from school-age adolescents who completed the Malaysian HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitude and
Practice survey were used. Chi-square analysis and multivariate logistic regression analyses were
performed. Having sexual intercourse was associated with urbaneness (p