Malaysia has a large variety of traditional medical systems that are a direct reflection of the wide ethnic diversity of its population. These can be grouped into four basic varieties, namely, traditional “native”. traditional Chinese. traditional Indian, and modem medicine, examples of which are described. In spite of the great inroads made by modem medicine, the traditional systems are firmly established. Patients move from one system to another or use several systems simultaneously. The integration of the traditional Malay birth attendant into the health team is described. The forces influencing the development, acceptance, and integration of the medical systems are discussed.
Matched MeSH terms: Health Services, Indigenous/utilization
The permainan puteri (usually abbreviated to main puteri) is an indigenous Kelantanese healing ceremony in which the bomoh (traditional medicine-man), the sick individual and other participants become spirit-medium through whom puteri (spirits) are able to enact a permainan ('play'). It has been successfully used as a psychotherapy for depression. The bomoh assisted by his minduk (master of spirits) and a troupe of musicians, is able to provide a conceptual framework around which the sick individual can organize his vague, mysterious and chaotic symptoms so that they become comprehensible and orderly. At the same time the bomoh is able to draw the sick individual out of his state of morbid self-absorption and heighten his feelings of self-worth. The involvement of his family, relatives and friends tends to enhance group solidarity and reintegrate the sick individual into his immediate social group.
Malaysia has a large variety of traditional medical systems that are a direct reflection of the wide ethnic diversity of its population. These can be grouped into four basic varieties, namely, traditional "native," traditional Chinese, traditional Indian and modern medicine, examples of which are described. In spite of the great inroads made by modern medicine, the traditional systems are firmly established. Patients move from one system to another or use several systems simultaneously. The integration of the traditional Malay birth attendant into the health team is described. The forces influencing the development, acceptance and integration of the medical systems is discussed.
Matched MeSH terms: Health Services, Indigenous/trends
The aim of this study is to explore the help-seeking behaviour of Malay psychiatric patients. A semi-structured interview based on a standard proforma was conducted to assess help seeking process and delays for Malay psychiatric patients attending the psychiatric clinic for the first time. Help-seeking process and delays were defined. Among 134 patients evaluated in the study, 69% had visited traditional healers (bomoh) for the present illness before consulting psychiatrists. The second popular choice of treatment was medical practitioner and only a small percentage of them had consulted homeopathic practitioners and herbalists. Patients who had consulted bomohs were significantly delayed in getting psychiatric treatment compared with those who had not consulted them. Consultation of bomohs was significantly higher among married patients, those with major psychiatric illnesses and in family who believed in supernatural causes of mental illness. However, there was no significant difference in age, gender, educational status and occupation between patients who had consulted and not consulted bomoh. We concluded that majority of the Malay psychiatric patients had sought the traditional treatment prior to psychiatric consultation. The strength of social support and the belief of the patients, friends, and/or relatives in supernatural causes of mental illness were strongly associated with the rate of traditional treatment. Deep-seated cultural beliefs were major barrier to psychiatric treatment.
Matched MeSH terms: Health Services, Indigenous/utilization
The objective of this study was to describe and compare the pathways followed by Malay patients with psychoses (schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder) and Malay patients with epilepsy to a tertiary health center in the northeastern area of peninsular Malaysia. There were 60 patients in each group. The most popular pathway for both groups was first contact with traditional or alternative healers. Consultation with Malay traditional healers (bomohs) and/or homeopathic practitioners (44.2%) was significantly higher for psychotic patients (61.7%) than for patients with epilepsy (26.7%) (chi(2)(2)=15.609, P<0.001). Direct access (24.2%) was the second most popular pathway and almost equally followed by both groups of patients. The third and last pathway was initial contact with private general practitioners and government doctors, respectively. Patients with epilepsy dominated the last two pathways. The treatment delay (TD) was significantly longer in epileptic than psychotic patients regardless of their visit to a bomoh and/or homeopathic practitioner (P<0001) or not (p<0.01). The socioeconomic status of psychotic patients also was significantly better than people with epilepsy (chi(2)=9.957, chi(2)(4), p=0.041).
Study site: Psychiatric clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia HUSM
Matched MeSH terms: Health Services, Indigenous/utilization
We have successfully developed a Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay that could specifically detect generic Escherichia coli (E. coli). This assay was tested on 85 bacterial strains and successfully identified 54 E. coli strains (average threshold time, Tt = 21.26). The sensitivity of this assay was evaluated on serial dilutions of bacterial cultures and spiked faeces. The assay could detect 10(2) CFU/mL for bacterial culture with Tt = 33.30 while the detection limit for spiked faeces was 10(3) CFU/mL (Tt = 31.12). We have also detected 46 generic E. coli from 50 faecal samples obtained from indigenous individuals with 16% of the positive samples being verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC) positive. VT1/VT2 allele was present in one faecal sample while the ratio of VT1 to VT2 was 6 : 1. Overall, our study had demonstrated high risk of VTEC infection among the indigenous community and most of the asymptomatic infection occurred among those aged below 15 years. The role of asymptomatic human carriers as a source of dissemination should not be underestimated. Large scale screening of the VTEC infection among indigenous populations and the potential contamination sources will be possible and easy with the aid of this newly developed rapid and simple LAMP assay.
Every woman experiences the menopause transition period in a very individual way. Menopause symptoms and management are greatly influenced by socioeconomic status in addition to genetic background and medical history. Because of their very unique cultural heritage and often holistic view of health and well-being, menopause symptoms and management might differ greatly in aboriginals compared to non-aboriginals. Our aim was to investigate the extent and scope of the current literature in describing the menopause experience of aboriginal women. Our systematic literature review included nine health-related databases using the keywords 'menopause' and 'climacteric symptoms' in combination with various keywords describing aboriginal populations. Data were collected from selected articles and descriptive analysis was applied. Twenty-eight relevant articles were included in our analysis. These articles represent data from 12 countries and aboriginal groups from at least eight distinctive geographical regions. Knowledge of menopause and symptom experience vary greatly among study groups. The average age of menopause onset appears earlier in most aboriginal groups, often attributed to malnutrition and a harsher lifestyle. This literature review highlights a need for further research of the menopause transition period among aboriginal women to fully explore understanding and treatment of menopause symptoms and ultimately advance an important dialogue about women's health care.