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Introduction: Introduction: Maintaining high levels of vaccinations is important for public health success in any vaccination planning. Success requires a better understanding of the public's perceptions of diseases and consequent decisions about vaccinations. This study aims to gather exploratory qualitative data on public opinion on the Malaysian Government's COVID-19 immunization campaigns. Methods: Open-ended question on Google Form was advertised online between 2 to 17 December 2020. The questionnaire form was deactivated when saturation has been reached. The free text questions were analysed by qualitative thematic analysis by all authors on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Results: Six hundred and sixty-one participants replied to the online questionnaire. Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis on suggestions for future National COVID-19 Immunisation Program. First, COVID-19 vaccine administration policy; secondly, knowledge dissemination and plan to address obstacles of public acceptances towards the vaccine proactively; thirdly, better implementation programs by the government and fourthly, using local research expertise for vaccine development and alternative medicines. Participants believe all this are essential in increasing their trust and uptake for the government's future national COVID-19 Immunisation Program. Conclusion: This study highlights the suggestions made by the public for the Malaysian Government. These findings will help develop education and intervention strategies for new vaccine introduction to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 is an emerging infectious disease caused by a novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In Malaysia, first few cases of COVID-19 were detected in January 2020, among Chinese nationals and the cases keep increasing day by day. Methods: This self-administered web based cross sectional study using Google forms was conducted among 400 Malaysian adults to explore their level of knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19, as well as factors associated with the variables. Descriptive and binary logistic regression were performed using SPSS version 22. Results: Knowledge and practice among Malaysian adults towards COVID-19 were low. Gender (p = 0.030, OR:0.616, 95% CI 0.398-0.955) and occupation (p = 0.002, OR:2.489, 95% CI 1.485-4.172) were found as significant predictors of practice towards COVID-19. Conclusions: In conclusion, proper mass public health messages should be conducted by the higher authorities to improve knowledge and practice towards COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Medical professionalism can be defined as a set of values, behaviours and relationships. Thus it is imperative that professionalism is incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum. In Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, medical professionalism is integrated throughout the 6-year medical programme through courses in Fundamental Islamic knowledge, Medical ethics, clinical teaching and community sessions. Objective: Thus a study was carried out to evaluate the perception of the concept of professionalism among clinical students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 142 clinical students of year 4, year 5 and year 6. Participants were given a questionnaire consisting of items on personality and professional characteristics of a good Muslim doctor. Analysis of data was done using SPSS software version 18. The mean, standard deviation, mean score, median and inter quartile ranges (IR) for knowledge, attitude, practice as well as both personal and professional characteristics were determined and the differences between groups were analysed using Mann-Whitney U tests or T tests. Results: Significant differences were seen for perception of professional characteristics between year 4 and year 6 (p value = 0.0001) and between year 5 and year 6 (p value=0.002). Significant differences for all items on professional characteristics were seen between year 4 and the final year students and four out of five items between year 5 and the final year students. No significant differences were noted in the perception of personal and professional characteristics among the clinical students by gender. Conclusion: The clinical students seemed to have benefitted from the Islamic-integrated medical curriculum in USIM. Overall, the senior clinical students developed better insight of the desirable personal and professional characteristics of a good Muslim doctor. Improvement in the teaching of professionalism could have greater impact on the development of professionalism among the clinical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Orang Asli (OA) in Malaysia is considered vulnerable to social, economic and legal abuse. The increase in prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among OA was reported due to their lifestyle changes. Our study aimed to determine the level of knowledge on NCDs among OA community and its' association with demographic factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study by face-to-face interview was conducted among consented adult OA in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan using a validated questionnaire. Their knowledge on risk factors, complications and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases was asked. Respective thresholds and ranges for poor, moderate and good categories were set as 0-15, 15-21 and 21- 28. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis test was used to test the association between the demographic profile and knowledge score since the data was not normally distributed. Results: A total of 325 respondents with mean age 39.94 (±13.196) ranged from 18 to 83-year-old participated in this study. Majority were females (71.1%) with primary education (39.1%) and mean household income of RM 615.47 (± 446.79). Their mean knowledge score was 12.82 (±9.671). Majority of them had poor knowledge (51.7%). The respondents with higher education background had significantly better knowledge score compared to lower education background (p<0.001). Conclusion: Study shows that the level of knowledge on NCDs among OA is low and associated with level of education. Effective health intervention programs among OA can be one of the strategic methods to increase their knowledge on NCDs and eventually their health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The world has been badly affected by the spread of a novel virus known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) that was first reported in Wuhan, China back in December 2019. As the virus is transmitted through aerosol, respiratory droplets and close contact, hand hygiene and wearing mask are the most important preventive measures for COVID-19. Studies showed hand hygiene intervention improved compliances. This paper discussed the development of a hand hygiene intervention module, validation, usability and effectiveness reports. Methods: This study involved 5 stages; need analysis, module development, validation, usability and effectiveness studies. Need analysis and module development were carried out through brainstorming and literature search. The content was evaluated by three experts, whereas the usability was screened by four preschool teachers. The effectiveness of knowledge transfer was evaluated via pre and post intervention surveys. Results: The hand hygiene educational module received valuable comments from the content expert and the end-users (teachers). Knowledge score related to COVID-19 transmission, prevention and hand hygiene moments among pre-school children were significantly increased after the intervention. Conclusion: This module can be used to improve teaching method related to COVID-19 and hand hygiene. The 'learn and play' approach may increase excitement, thus make learning process enjoyable and memorable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Children in pre-schools are at high risk of getting infections due to overcrowding, minimal awareness of basic hygiene and lack of immunity against microorganisms. Hand hygiene practice should be started at home where parents set good example, followed by formal education in pre- schools, primary and secondary school. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive program on hand hygiene practice in pre-schools. This paper presents the developmental aspects of the program material and the results of its evaluation process in a selected pre-school. Methods: Stage of development involved preparation of song, lyric, video clip, infographic and tablet application. The module was introduced during an intervention day called 'Healthy Hands' day. The acceptance of the module was evaluated before and after the intervention day. Evaluation was done by assessing pre-school children by faceto- face interview about knowledge on hand hygiene techniques and routine, such as before or after certain activities. Results: We managed to compose a song in three languages (Malay, English & Arabic), produced a video clip, an infographic and tablet application. A total of 227 children participated. Post intervention evaluation showed significant (p<0.001) increase of knowledge for eight out of eleven handwashing steps. The knowledge on hand hygiene routine i.e. after toilet, after playing outdoor, after sneezing and after playing with pet was also increased significantly. Conclusion: This comprehensive knowledge transfer program significantly improved the children's hand hygiene techniques and routine and is recommended to be integrated into pre-school curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The persistently increasing number of dengue cases costs a significant amount of health financial expenditure by the government. Communities throughout the country should be equipped with adequate knowledge and have a good practice in the avenue of reducing dengue infection incidence. This study aims to describe the knowledge and practice levels on dengue fever and their associated factors among adults in a rural village in Negeri Sembilan. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a village of Tampin District using a pretested structured questionnaire. Face-to-face interview was conducted among participants whose houses were randomly selected. The questionnaire consisted of sections identifying the socio-demographic factors and assessing their knowledge and practice on dengue fever. Knowledge that was assessed includes the sign and symptoms of dengue fever, knowledge on the vector, preventive measures and legislation related to it while practice includes their routine action in preventing dengue fever. Results: A total of 221 respondents responded to the questionnaire. The prevalence of respondents ever had dengue fever was 10.4% (n=23). Out of 100, the mean (s.d.) knowledge and practice score was 77.2(13.1) and 75.8(16.7) respectively. Good knowledge and practice on dengue fever was found among 52.0% and 47.5% of the respondents respectively. Good knowledge was associated with being middle aged (p=0.001), married (p=0.010) and having higher household income (p= 0.037). There was a significant but weak positive correlation between knowledge and practice of dengue fever (r=0.237, p <0.001). Conclusion: Having good knowledge may contribute to good practice in preventing dengue, nevertheless, to depend on improving knowledge alone might not help much in the reduction of dengue cases. Enhancing the practice through practical and hands on approach might be beneficial in future dengue intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis is considered a silent disease, the early symptoms of which often go unrecognised. Osteoporosis causes bone loss, reduces mineralised density, and inevitably leads to bone fracture. Hormonal deficiencies due to aging or drug induction are also frequently attributed to osteoporosis. Nevertheless, the phytochemical content of natural plants has been proven to significantly reduce osteoporotic conditions. A systematic review was conducted by this study to identify research specifically on the effects of Malaysian herbs such as Piper sarmentosum, Eurycoma longifolia and Labisia pumila on osteoporotic bone changes. This review consisted of a comprehensive search of five databases for the effects of specific herbs on osteoporotic bone change. These databases were Web of Science (WOS), Medline, Scopus, ScienceDirect and PubMed. The articles were selected throughout the years, were limited to the English language and fully documented. Duplication, irrelevant titles, different herbs and in vitro studies were excluded, including those that are not original research papers. A total of 399 potential studies were identified, but only 21 samples were accepted based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Six of the twenty one studies were on Piper sarmentosum, six on Eurycoma longifolia, and the remaining nine studies were on Labisia pumila . Overall, in three of the studies a glucocorticoid-induced model was used, while in 12 of the studies an ovariectomised model was used, and for the other six studies an orchidectomised model was used as the osteoporotic model. All of the studies reported varied results based on the type of herbs used, but in comparison to Eurycoma longifolia, Piper sarmentosum and Labisia pumila recorded better anti-osteoporotic effects, while the majority of studies on Eurycoma longifolia were unable to preserve bone strength., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest The authors declare to have no conflicts of interests whatsoever. The authors are responsible for the content and the writing of this paper.