Vaccinations were considered to be among the most effective way in preventing further COVID-19 transmission. To date, the manufactures of vaccines were in the third phase of clinical trial studies. However, the extent to which the publics are able to pay and willing to pay for this vaccine remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the ability to pay (ATP) and willingness to pay (WTP) for COVID-19 vaccination in Malaysia. A cross sectional study was conducted among 67 staff of a public university in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. The ATP and WTP were obtained through an open and close-ended method via either face-to-face interview or telephone-based interview. For the open-ended method, the mean (SD) ATP and WTP values recorded were USD 52.35 (620.83) and USD 52.08 (620.82) respectively. As for the close-ended, the mean (SD) ATP and WTP values recorded were USD 52.08 (620.82) and USD 32.38 (147.97) respectively. Through closed-ended method, lower ATP and WTP values were recorded compared with open-ended method, as the respondents are able to negotiate through a bidding process to get the best price of vaccine. Female, Malay, married, permanent staff and respondents with side-income respondents recorded higher ATP and WTP values in open-ended method. Nevertheless, except for the side-income, other factors in this study were not statistically significant. Findings from this study could facilitate government to set appropriate market price to ensure the affordability of COVID-19 vaccine and improve its accessibility so that a big proportion of the people will be vaccinated and protected from this disease.

Community-based management has been heralded to practice stakeholder inclusivity and is claimed to be the panacea in overcoming problems and dilemmas in governing ecotourism in a forest-protected area. Sungei Moroli, Kawang Forest Reserve (SMKFR) at Kampung Luanti Baru Sabah, a unique destination offering Kelah fish massage is selected as the study site on account of being associated with co-management governance. This study aims to identify the key stakeholders within the governance network in this area who are involvedin eco-tourism management and to understand the interests and roles of these stakeholders. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is utilized in this study. SNA is a tool to measure the criteria used, the number of ties, density, and geodesic distance, together with the degree and betweenness centralities of the network map.The social network map obtained suggests that the local community management is the most critical stakeholder in ensuring the effective operation of the ecotourism set-up in SMKFR. The bottom-up management approach with high participation and commitment of the stakeholders was indeed in place and is its critical success factor of eco-tourism activities in SMKFR. The implications of these findings to ecotourism management in the protected area for greater inclusivity of stakeholders, especially among the local communities.Keywords: Community Based Management, Ecotourism, Kawang Forest Reserve,Social Network AnalysisINTRODUCTIONWith the rising potential of ecotourism in a protected area, it is necessary for providers to maintain high-qualityservices for visitors while retaining biodiversity conservation values. Environmental-friendlyservices and products have been ranked as one of the most important criteriain ecotourism service quality (Jeong et al., 2021; Mulyani et al., 2021). Another important service construct is the design of the attractions and facilities provided. Tangibleaspects of the service environment such as public facilities also had a critical impact on the affective responses of customers,and this may influence their perceptions of the place (So et al., 2021). Tourist service quality reactions are also easily affected by the actions of service providers and other tourists as well (Abdullah et al., 2021). The ability of

COVID-19 infection resulted in significant economic implications to patients as well as a considerable financial burden to the general population for preventive measures. A descriptive study was conducted among staff at one of the public universities in Malaysia to estimate the monthly out-of-pocket expenditures for preventive measures used for COVID-19 infection. The study tool includes questions on household out-of-pocket expenditure and the measurements of the impact of the expenditure on household income. It was found that the average cumulative monthly expenditures related to the preventive measures were US$ 45.90 (Ringgit Malaysia 187.77), which was 4.3% of the household income. The highest expenditures were for traditional and complementary medicine followed by nutraceutical/supplements and disposable facemask. 8% of the households in this study incurred more than ten per cents of their monthly household income for expenditures related to COVID-19 preventive measures. Several households are experiencing substantial financial implications for preventive measures related to COVID-19 infection. This study highlights the out-of-pocket expenditures incurred for preventive measures were substantial for certain households. Effective initiatives from the government on providing subsidized protective personal equipment and a cost-sharing approach could help to alleviate the household financial burden.

COVID-19 pandemic results in unprecendeted impacts globally. New discoveries and knowledge on this pandemic is evolving. A study was conducted to determine factors that are associated with knowledge, attitude and practice among medical students at one of the public universities in Malaysia towards COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted through online surveys by using a set of questionnare. The questionnaire was adapted and adopted from validated sources. It was found that, the scores for knowledge, practice and attitude were high among medical students. Male students had higher level of knowledge whereas females had significantly higher level of attitude and practice. Level of knowledge differed between years of study. Clinical year students had higher level of knowledge and practice compared to pre-clinical year students. Findings from this study might prove as the baseline for planning awareness campaigns for students for better containment of COVID-19 and its further spread

Economic burden issues in SARS-CoV-2 patients with underlying co-morbidities are enormous resources for patient treatment and management. The uncertainty costs for clinical management render the healthcare system catatonic and incurs deficits in national annual budgets. This article focuses on systematic steps towards selecting and evaluating literature to uncover gaps and ways to help healthcare stakeholders optimize resources in treating and managing COVID-19 patients with multi-morbidity. A systematic review of all COVID-19 treatment procedures with co-morbidities or multi-morbidity for the period from 2019 to 2022 was conducted. The search includes studies describing treatment costs associated with multi- or co-morbidity cases for infected patients and, if concurrently reported, determining recurring expenses. Study selection will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Galbraith plots and I2 statistics will be deployed to assess heterogeneity and to identify potential sources. A backward elimination process will be applied in the regression modelling procedure. Based on the number of studies retrieved and their sample size, the subgroup analysis will be stratified on participant disease category, associated total costs, and degree of freedom in cost estimation. These studies were registered in the PROSPERO registry (ID: CRD42022323071).

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Background: Adequate health literacy is necessary for individuals as it enables them to readily acquire information, process it, and apply it to health-related decisions. Various factors including geographical area will determine the disparity in health literacy status. Communities living in protected areas have limited health literacy and health status owing to a lack of access to infrastructure and medical facilities. Existing studies have discussed health literacy among various populations disproportionately affected by certain diseases. However, research remains underdeveloped, and the causal factors are largely untested. This research aims to better understand how population living conditions especially those who are living in protected areas are affected and exposed to limited health literacy. Method: This study will comprehensively review full-text papers published between 2013 and 2023. We will search 3 databases, PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science, using the keyword search strategy to find articles related to the issue. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses will be used to guide the selection of relevant studies. The results will then be assessed using the standard Cochrane Quality assessment method. The outcome is addressed in light of a narrative synthesis that utilizes a theme category and focuses on each component’s main conclusions. Result: This protocol describes the planned scope and methodology for the systematic review and meta-analysis that will provide current evidence on; The status of health literacy among the community in protected areas and; The effect of Protected Areas on health literacy according to their types and characteristics. Conclusion: Meta-analysis of low-to-high health literacy status will benefit the development of policy recommendations for protected areas. Abbreviations: HL = health literacy, PA = protected area.

The rising healthcare demand during COVID-19 outbreak may endanger patients and forces hospital to plan for future needs. Predictive analyses were conducted to monitor hospital resources at one of the gazetted COVID-19 hospitals in Malaysia. Simultaneously, a real-time observation on patient’s volume was conducted to understand the actual trend of healthcare resource utilisations. All the projections were directly compared to the actual number of patients in-care. This predictive study was done at University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) using various sources of data. The projections revealed a steady increase in the number of cumulative cases until April 2020 followed by an exponential increase in the number of cumulative positive cases in Malaysia. When a comparison between the projection and actual data was done, it was found that the initial projections estimated a range that is 50% to 70% higher during the first three phases of Movement Control Order (MCO) compared to the actual number of COVID-19 patients at UMMC. Subsequent projections were done by using recent estimations from the national database and it was estimated that the number of patients treated will be less than 10 each day up until the end of May 2020. The accuracy of this estimation is 95% when compared to the actual number of COVID-19 patients in care. In conclusion, the practice of continuous projections and real-time observation through predictive analysis using mathematical calculations and algorithms is one of the useful tools to facilitate hospital management to allocate adequate resource allocations.

In the last decade, researchers from around the world have shown deep interest in using photovoice as a method of analysis in scientific research. This might be due to the participatory strength of the method that acts as a bridge to connect researcher and community by balancing scientific research and mitigating action. The purpose of this research is to synthesize the available research on the photovoice method using the Scientometric method. This article explores the research landscape, key topics, and developments of the photovoice method based on the 1252 document data retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection dated from 1997 to 2019. The results show that the interest in using this method is significantly high in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom as they are the major leaders in publication contributions. A Scientometric analysis for Document co-citation analysis was applied and 15 research clusters were identified. This paper reviews the main characteristics of 6 most important clusters and their contribution to the photovoice method. The outcome of this study contributes to academia, industry practitioners and policymakers by providing an understanding of overall trends, status, and potential research questions of study in this domain.

The sudden surge in the number of healthcare utilizations compels the hospital to plan for its future needs. Several time-series projections of Covid-19 were conducted to forecast the disease burden and resources utilization through simple predictive analytics. The projections revealed a rapid increase in the number of cases and patient in care at the hospital. It was estimated that the number of patients in care to range from 62 to 81 and 89 to 121 patients daily in the second and third phase of movement control order respectively. It was estimated that more than 100,000 plastic aprons, 80,000 sterile and non-sterile isolation gowns, 40,000 masks N95 and face shields, 30,000 gloves and nearly 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizers are needed until late May. Hence, a simple mathematical algorithm is a helpful tool to manage hospital resources during the pandemic.