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.

Introduction: Many studies have revealed that exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) substantially increases the risk of smoking related diseases especially among the vulnerable groups, yet data on the location of SHS exposure among youth in Malaysia are still lacking. The study aims to describe the prevalence and factors associated with SHS exposure at home, outside the home, and inside the school among school-going adolescents in Malaysia. Methods: We derived the data from the TECMA study, which used a cross-sectional study design and multi-stage sampling method to obtain a representative sample of school-going adolescents aged 11–19 years in Malaysia in 2016. Data were collected through a self-administered approach using a pre-validated standard questionnaire. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were used to analyze the data, and results are presented as adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: SHS exposure for the past seven days was higher outside the home (51.2%; 95% CI: 49.2–53.2) compared to at home (37.8%; 95% CI: 35.8–39.9) while 27.3% (95% CI: 25.1–29.5) of school-going adolescents reported exposure to SHS inside the school in the past one month. In the regression analyses, older adolescents, those of Malay and Bumiputra Sarawak ethnicities, adolescents from rural areas and current smokers had higher likelihood of exposure to SHS at home, outside home and inside the school. Our study also found that adolescents who were current smokers had higher odds of being exposed to SHS at home (AOR=2.87; 95% CI: 2.57–3.21), outside the home (AOR=3.46; 95% CI: 3.05–3.92) and in the school (AOR=2.25; 95% CI: 2.01–2.51). Conclusions: Health promotion measures should target parents/guardians and household members to reduce SHS exposure among adolescents. In addition, smoke-free regulation should be fully enforced in school. Furthermore, more public places should be designated non-smoking areas to reduce SHS exposure and denormalize smoking behavior.