Introduction: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that targets the CD4+ of human T-lymphocyte cells of the immune system. The weakening immune system causes susceptibility to multiple infective diseases and cancers. This study is aimed to determinant the knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS and to identify the associated factors of the HIV/AIDS knowledge among the urban and rural Malaysian young people. Methods: Data was collected using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) method. HIV knowledge was assessed using the UNGASS indicators, which contain five questions on HIV prevention and transmission. There were two questions regarding the association between HIV transmission with sexual practice and behaviour. The remainder was one question, each related to insect bite, meal sharing, and knowledge about the physical appearance of someone with HIV infection. Respondents who correctly answer all five questions were considered to have adequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Results: The result from a questionnaire revealed the prevalence of the young people HIV/AIDS knowledge in urban area was 14.7% (95% CI: 9.96, 21.28) whereas in rural area was 10.9% (95% CI: 6.83, 16.89) in 2020. The results revealed significant difference of misconceptions on healthy-looking person have HIV where urban was 71.7% (95% CI: 66.46, 76.37) and rural was 59.8% (95% CI: 56.05, 63.41). Furthermore, there are significant difference of misconceptions on person get HIV by sharing food with someone who is infected whereas urban was 64.8% (95% CI: 60.48, 68.98) while rural was 52.6% (95% CI: 48.67, 56.50). Conclusion: The findings from this survey have important implications for the development of primary HIV/AIDS prevention programs and HIV educational campaigns to increase knowledge and dispel misconceptions about HIV.

Background: Point-of-care testing (POCT) is commonly used in epidemiological surveys due to its various advantages, such as portability and immediate test results. The CardioChek® PA analyser 3-in-1 lipid panel measures total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. This study tested the reliability and diagnostic accuracy of the CardioChek® PA analyser using a 3-in-1 lipid panel. Methods: A cross-sectional study design with quota sampling was used. A total of 203 respondents aged 18 years and above from a research centre in the Ministry of Health, Malaysia, were recruited. Venous blood was sent to the laboratory and tested with Siemens Atellica CH, while a POCT analyser was used for capillary blood measurements. Intraclass coefficient correlation (ICC) analysis was employed to determine the agreement between capillary and venous blood parameters. The diagnostic performance of the evaluated tests was evaluated using STATA version 12. Results: The agreement between capillary and laboratory venous blood was moderate (0.64–0.67) for TC and HDL, good (0.75) for LDL and excellent (0.91) for TG). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were as follows: TC, 57.1%, 94.3%, 92.3% and 64.8%; TG, 76.0%, 100%, 100%, and 96.6%; HDL, 96.2%, 83.2%, 47.2% and 99.3%; and LDL, 81.0%, 100%, 100% and 68.3%, respectively. Conclusions: The CardioChek® PA analyser showed acceptable diagnostic accuracy for screening high-risk individuals more often in places where laboratories are inaccessible. It could also be used in clinical settings where patients would benefit from swift treatment decisions.

In Malaysia, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG) are the main backbone to enforce public health legislation. The main objective or intention of public health enforcement which is conducted from time to time is to protect the public from threat or health hazards, besides creating awareness and promoting the public to comply with national laws. Currently the public health enforcement laws are Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342), Food Act 1983 (Act 281), Destruction of Disease-bearing Insects Act 1975 (Act 154), and the Hydrogen Cyanide Act 1953 (Act 260). Department of Health is responsible to protect public health by conducting intervening activity which includes premises inspection, issuance of writing order to destroy disease-bearing insects or pathogens and writing order the closure of the infected premises, compounding offenders who harboured breeding mosquitoes, compounding who flout the no-smoking rule at non-smoking gazetted areas and selling tobacco products to persons under the age of 18 or school children who have possession of tobacco product. Order of closure (cleaning and hygiene improvement) needs the premises to temporarily close for the purpose of prevention and control activities in case of massive mosquito breeding, stop transmissible disease pathogen or unhygienic food premises. MOH also coordinated fumigation courses, examination and issuance of fumigation licenses for fumigation operators, in accordance with the requirements of the Hydrogen Cyanide Act 1953 (Act 260). The Sector of Inspectorate and Legal (SIP) at the Ministry of Health (MOH) is responsible for monitoring the public health law enforcement activities conducted throughout the state health departments and district health offices. Environmental Health Consultation Division (EHCD) in Local Government Authorities plays a key role in the implementation of environmental health policy and monitoring the roles and functions of local authority based on the provisions of the law. The EHCD is responsible to allocate funding to municipal bodies for prevention and environmental health control programs. Local Government Act 1976 (Act 171) is the ‘parent laws’ regulating city councils, municipal councils and district councils. By-laws (UUK) related to environmental health as provided under Section 73 and Section 102 Local Government Act 1976 (Act 171), has been approved on the 32nd National Council Meeting on Local Government which held on 16 October 1987 to be adopted by Local Authorities and State Authorities. The local authority has the right to create, amend or revoke the by-laws in accordance with the interest of the administrative area of the local authority. According to Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG), there are currently 149 local authorities, consisting of 12 city councils, 39 municipal councils, 98 district councils and five special and modified local authorities in Malaysia (MHLG, 2019). While there are quite a number of local authorities constituted in Malaysia, there are few concerns that need to be resolved to ensure that their roles are completely utilized. Today, public health programs and activities such as food safety systems and dengue outbreak control within the local authority is not fully practiced under their jurisdiction. The local authority in Malaysia needs the Ministry of Health (MOH) to conduct environmental health protection activity in their authority area.

INTRODUCTION: The adverse effects of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure on health have been well established. Using the NHMS 2002: Adolescent Health Survey (AHS), this study attempts to evaluate the extent and factors associated with SHS exposure among Malaysian school-going adolescents. METHODS: We conducted the NHMS 2022: AHS to gather a representative sample of school-age teenagers. We employed a cross-sectional study design and a multi-stage sampling procedure. We utilized a pre-validated self-administered questionnaire to collect data from the selected respondents. The data analysis included adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Additionally, we investigated the possible two-way interactions between the independent variables. RESULTS: The SHS prevalence was 42.0%. Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) was associated with male gender (AOR=1.28; 95 CI: 1.20–1.38), older age (AOR=1.46; 95% CI: 1.33–1.60), Malay (AOR=1.88; 95% CI: 1.49–2.37), Bumiputra Sabah (AOR=2.23; 95% CI: 1.67–2.99), Bumiputra Sarawak (AOR=2.43; 95% CI: 1.80–3.28), and Chinese ethnicity (AOR=2.89; 95 CI: % 2.30–3.64), as well as current smoking (AOR=2.78; 95% CI: 2.50–3.09), having separated or divorced parents (AOR=1.12; 95% CI: 1.02–1.23), and parental tobacco product use (AOR=4.75; 95% CI: 4.44–5.08). We found significant interactions between: 1) Age group with gender and ethnicity; 2) Gender and ethnicity; and 3) Parental smoking status with gender, response to tobacco use, parents' marital status, and ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Parental characteristics, sociodemographic characteristics, and SHS exposure are strongly correlated. In addition, there is evidence of smoking displacement to the house from other areas by parents/guardians. This study offers a fresh perspective on how these variables influence the likelihood of SHS exposure for Malaysian school-age teenagers. More efforts should focus on parental variables and sociodemographic traits, especially parental smoking cessation support.

Alcohol consumption is a risk factor for various diseases, especially non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries. The reduction of the harmful use of alcohol is mentioned in Target 3.5 of the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG). This study aimed to determine factors associated with current alcohol drinking among Malaysians aged 15 years and above. Data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019, a cross-sectional nationwide survey using a two-stage stratified random sampling design, was used. Current alcohol drinking was defined as having consumed any alcoholic beverage in the past 12 months. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analysis were employed. The prevalence of current drinkers was 11.5%; 95% CI: 9.8, 13.5. The majority (65%) consumed alcoholic beverages in Category 2, which is mainly beer. Current drinkers consumed alcohol mostly once a month (59.0%), one or two drinks (71.1%), on a typical day. Most respondents had six or more drinks less than once a month (27.6%). Sex, age, ethnicity, education, employment, and smoking were found to be significantly associated with current alcohol drinking. Marital status, locality of residence, and household income were not significantly associated. Alcohol drinking is a problem among certain vulnerable groups and should be tackled appropriately

Background: Small cigarette pack sizes contain less than 20 cigarette sticks in a pack. Smaller packs may suggest lower costs, increasing affordability among lower-income users, especially the younger generation, which could lead to tobacco-related diseases and economic costs, including human capital lost results from tobacco-attributable morbidity and mortality. This concern has caused many countries to ban the sale of single cigarette sticks or kiddie packs. However, small cigarette pack sizes were proposed recently to be reintroduced by the tobacco industry with an excuse to prevent consumers from buying illicit cigarettes. This would demean efforts in combating tobacco consumption based on the existing tobacco control policies to prevent minors from purchasing cigarettes. Given the competing influences of affordability and availability of tobacco on consumption and the dearth of evidence-based review on the impact of pack size on smoking, this systematic review was conducted to identify the link between kiddie packs and smoking specifically on the initiation of smoking, urge/tendency to buy cigarettes among the general population and attempt to reduce cigarette consumption and prevalence of smoking using kiddie packs among current smokers. Methods: We include all studies except for reviews, guidelines, conference papers, commentaries, editorials, or opinion pieces. A database search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Web of Science and Scopus on 27 November 2021. The results were presented in the form of narrative synthesis under four groups: initiation of smoking; urge/tendency to buy cigarettes; the prevalence of smoking, and attempt to reduce cigarette consumption. The literature search identified 1601 articles, of which 21 articles had met the inclusion criteria. The methodological quality of all included articles was determined using a validated 16-item quality assessment tool (QATSDD). The average quality score for all papers was 34.8%. Discussion: Given the diverse study settings of the articles and despite the challenges of the methodological quality of some articles, this review provides some evidence that kiddie packs may increase the urge/tendency to buy cigarettes and mixed evidence on the attempt to reduce cigarette consumption. This review also found some evidence that kiddie pack purchasing among teenage smokers was higher compared to adults. However, we are uncertain about the link between kiddie packs and smoking initiation. Nevertheless, since most studies were of low quality, further high-quality studies are needed to conclude about the impact of kiddie packs on smoking to assist the policymakers and stakeholders in formulating new policies and strengthening existing strategies related to the kiddie packs.

Introduction: Community health workers/volunteers (CHW) are health workers who are trained but do not possess a formal professional certificate. They are members of the community who live and work in that particular community. This study aimed to determine factors associated with not performing health screening activities by volunteers under KOSPEN; a community-based intervention programme, initiated by Ministry of Health Malaysia in October 2013. Methods: Data from the “Evaluation of the implementation of KOSPEN programme in Malaysia 2016” was used,a cross-sectional study which was carried out in randomly selected KOSPEN localities throughout Malaysia. The response rate was 94.9%. A pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics andlogistic regression analysis was applied using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Results: 700 volunteers were included in this study. Majority were female (65.7%), aged 50-59 years (30.9%), had secondary education (65.3%), employed (55.7%.) and married (80.4%). Several issues were identified by the volunteers; funding (47.2%), module content and comprehensibility (11.4% respectively), submitting returns (17%). Multivariate logistic regression showed that volunteers who never attended training (aOR 2.79; 95% CI:1.66, 4.67) and who felt the content of the training module was inadequate (aOR 2.693; 95% CI: 1.46, 4.98) were more likely did not perform screening activities in the community. Conclusions: Volunteers who were not trained and those who felt the content of the training module was inadequate did not carry out screening activities. These findings will be useful for stakeholders to make improvements to the programme for a more successful implementation.

Background: Truancy is correlated with variety of unfavorable outcomes that can negatively impact adolescents’ development and well-being. We investigated the prevalence of truancy and its associated factors among school-going adolescents in Malaysia in 2022. Methods: We used secondary data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2022. It is a cross-sectional study with a multistage stratified cluster sampling study design including 32,290 students aged 13 to 17 years old. It utilized the self-administered questionnaire from the validated Malaysian Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS). The associations between the truancy and its associated factors were examined using multivariate logistic regression, a complex sample analysis with sampling weightage. Results: The prevalence of truancy was 25.6% (95% CI=24.25, 26.98). In the multivariate analysis, truancy was significantly associated with older age groups (P<0.001), adolescents with separated/ divorced/ widowed parents (P<0.001), those with current any tobacco product use (P<0.001), those with ever drug use (P<0.001), those who have been physically attacked (P<0.001) and being bullied (P<0.001). Conclusion: Gender, age, parent marital status, and adolescents with risk behavior were associated with truancy. This information may provide evidence for the implementation of effective prevention and intervention strategies to reduce truancy among these school-going adolescents.

Water, the elixir of life, is one of the most fundamental and essential substances on our planet. It is a clear, tasteless, and odourless liquid that covers about 71% of Earth's surface. The effects of human activities cause water quality levels to deteriorate daily, impacting human health. A recent Focused Group Discussion (FGD) held at the National Institute of Health, Setia Alam, Selangor, aimed to address water quality issues. Key points discussed include: 1. the identification of sources and causes of water pollution in Sepang, Selangor, 2. assessment of the effects of consuming contaminated water on human health, 3. emphasis on collaboration between Federal and State Governments for effective water safety management, 4. evaluation of the effectiveness of laws and regulations in regulating water safety and 5. the recognition of the need for public education to prevent water pollution. The objective is to ensure citizens receive clean potable water, mitigating long-term health effects. Authorities must enforce the prevention of surface water pollution as the basis for guaranteeing water quality which aligns with health standards.