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JULY , 2023 | THE HEALTH
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reproductive health education programmes should be planned and executed among adolescents .
• Strengthening the current law and taking legal action in controlling the accessibility of tobacco products .” Commenting on the NHMS 2022 , Dr
Radzi acknowledged that the diversity of adolescents ’ health problems must be addressed by all agencies / stakeholders at the micro-level ( individual , family , community ) and macro-level ( law / policymakers ).
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“ MoH works in smart partnership through a whole-of-government approach with relevant ministries , agencies and institutions to provide health information , health education and healthcare services to adolescents in various settings via health clinics , schools , and community .
“ It is pivotal to go beyond the health sector and develop strong multisectoral , whole-of-government policy approaches that truly address adolescent health and wellbeing .”
While the health sector may lead
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Dr Noor Ani Ahmad |
the overall response to health , addressing broad determinants of adolescent health and wellbeing requires multisectoral action , the most important of these is the education sector .
Additionally , Dr Radzi pointed out that Malaysia had developed a National Adolescent Health Policy and Plan of Action consisting of inputs from various government and non-government agencies involved in adolescent programmes and inputs from young people themselves .
“ It is implemented through intersectoral collaborations in providing services targeting the wellbeing of adolescents and continuously advocating and creating awareness . The need for a national comprehensive intervention to tackle social determinants in all settings , at all levels and in all target groups is crucial .”
However , the remaining challenges must be sufficiently addressed in the policy regarding adolescent participation and access to information and services .
Based on the AHS and the Malaysian Population and Family Survey , knowledge of sexual and reproductive health ( SRH ) among adolescents is still low , and the prevalence of specific morbidities is increasing .
While children and adolescents Continued page 11
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A comprehensive survey
THE INSTITUTE of Public Health ( IKU ) released two National Health and Morbidity Surveys ( NHMS ) 2022 . They are the Adolescent Health Survey ( AHS ) and the Maternal Health and Child Health ( MCH ) survey .
Director of the IKU from the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ), Dr Noor Ani Ahmad , shared : “ The AHS aimed to determine the prevalence of health risk behaviours and protective factors among adolescents in Malaysia .
“ Meanwhile , the MCH aimed to asses health status among women and children in Malaysia .”
ADOLESCENT HEALTH STUDY
To improve adolescent health globally , the World Health Organisation ( WHO ) initiated the development of the health risk behaviours measurement tools known as the Global School-based Student Health Survey ( GSHS ).
Adolescents comprise approximately 15.6 per cent of the Malaysian population in Malaysia .
“ The first GSHS was conducted in 2012 among adolescents to determine the prevalence of health risk behaviours and protective factors among adolescents in Malaysia ,” Dr Noor Ani shared .
“ In 2017 , the second NHMS 2017 : AHS using the GSHS methods and questionnaire was conducted in the country . In 2022 , the
Ministry of Health ( MoH ) conducted this third national survey on adolescents , NHMS 2022 : AHS , with the cooperation from the Ministry of Education .”
She continued : “ This NHMS 2022 : AHS was a nationwide cross-sectional study involving 240 randomly selected secondary schools in Malaysia . This survey was conducted from June to July 2022 by 34 data collection teams , and 33,523 students studying in Form 1 until Form 5 participated in this survey .” Topics covered :
• Alcohol use
• Dietary behaviours
• Drug use
• Hygiene ( including oral health )
• Mental health problems
• Physical activity
• Protective factors
• Sexual behaviours
• Tobacco use
• Violence and unintentional injury The factors that influence adolescent practices and behaviour are beyond the scope of the study . Thus , further study is warranted .
MATERNAL HEALTH AND CHILD HEALTH
“ The first NHMS MCH was conducted in 2016 and then repeated a second time in 2022 , both of which concentrated on the health status of mothers with their
most recent child under the age of two , children under the age of five , and women of reproductive age , 15 to 49 years ,” Dr Noor Ani explained .
NHMS 2022 : MCH was a cross-sectional study using a complex study design with twostage stratified random sampling .
The survey involved all states and Federal Territories in Malaysia to produce nationally representative data . Face-toface interviews were carried out by trained research assistants , together with structured self-administered questionnaires ( SAQ ) and clinical and anthropometric measurements by the nurses . Topic covered :
• Care during pregnancy
• Care during childbirth
• Women reproductive health
• Vaccination
• Nutritional status
• Infant & young child feeding practice
• Child development
• Child diseases
• Child discipline
• Child oral health
• Anaemia A point-of-care finger-prick blood test was also done at selected health clinics . A total of 25,414 respondents participated in the survey , representing a response rate of 74.9 per cent from a total of 1,029 enumeration blocks ( EB ) consisting of 13,832 living quarters ( LQ ).
Given NHMS 2022 : AHS and MCH findings , Dr Noor Ani said the MoH had planned various initiatives to tackle the issues .