Malaysia participates in the frameworks of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific to pursue the goals relating to universal birth registration and accomplish them by 2030. Birth registration is a permanent record of a child's existence and an important source of legal identity, population statistics and policy planning, including on public health. From the perspective of children’s health, early and complete birth registration will ensure that children can access health, nutrition and welfare programmes from the start. It also facilitates the collection and compilation of fertility and mortality data. However, the majority of countries in Asia and the Pacific do not have universal and responsive CRVS systems that meet relevant international standards. Using the method of desk review, this study will investigate relevant gaps pertaining to completeness of birth registration in Malaysia using primarily published data and statistics issued by Department of Statistic Malaysia (DOSM) and The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Following the analysis, the study will provide a number of recommendations to ensure that the targets that Malaysia commits to achieve in the context of completeness of birth registration could be met for better progress on the rights and welfare of children.

Background: Family Planning (FP) is one of the pillars of Safe Motherhood Program in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. Despite positive evidence on the benefit of family planning, its utilisation among Malaysian population is still lower than expected. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of family planning utilisation and its associated factors among adults in Malaysia. Methods: An online survey was conducted involving 402 respondents of Malaysian adults. Convenience sampling was used in recruiting the respondents. Pretested questionnaire was distributed using online google form through various social media platform. Family planning utilisation was defined as the usage of any contraceptive methods (modern or traditional) within the past one year. The independent variables studied were sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge and attitude towards family planning, presence of spousal communication for family planning and accessibility to the service. Results: Prevalence of FP utilisation was 49.0% with higher percentages noted among female, Malay, age between 24-35 years, married, completed tertiary education, middle income group (M40) and having one to five children. Mean (SD) scores of knowledge (9.01 (2.271) and attitude (42.20 (4.948) towards FP were higher among respondents who utilised FP. The accessibility rate for FP services was 69.9%. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that predictors for FP utilisation were, high scores of knowledge (P=0.001) and attitude (P=0.026) towards FP, age group of 25-34 (P=0.001) together with 35-50 years old (P=0.001) and having 1 to 5 children in the family (P=0.011). Conclusion: Family planning utilisation remains low despite easily accessible services. Increasing knowledge, instils positive attitude and targeting towards suitable population are among the crucial elements to be focused in any intervention plans by the relevant authorities

Recent advances in information technology has made e-learning feasible in many fields of education. Medical education is not any different. This survey is conducted among all the medical educators in Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) assessing their readiness and attitudes towards e-learning. A cross-sectional questionnaires assessing the IT skills, Internet usage, attitude, perceived benefits and usage of e-learning among USIM medical lecturers were used. Data gained were then analyzed. The response rate was 92%. Female (56) made majority of the respondents. 44 of the educators aged 25-34 with 56% had teaching experience of <5 years. Majority of the respondents rate their skills as intermediate in using the software. 56% uses the Internet for more than 3 h per day. Majority agreed that e-learning benefits the students in many ways. Majority also willing to learn and integrate e-learning in their teaching modalities. Despite this, many have not used e-learning in delivering lectures and accepting assignments at time of the survey. Nevertheless, while majority of medical educators are willing to incorporate e-learning in their teaching, many still have not used it. Improvement of infrastructure, training and support to all medical educators are required for successful implementation of e-learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge impact towards the teaching and learning activities in medical schools. Due to the outbreak, the curricular activities were shifted to a mainly digitised version of learning format. The purpose of this paper is to present the study design and methodology of a population-based survey on the impact of COVID-19 among medical students. The survey aims to investigate the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) on the COVID-19 pandemic, the online learning readiness and psychological status among medical students in Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). A universal sampling method will be used that involve 475 medical students from Year 1 to Year 6 in USIM. The data collection will be conducted through an online survey. The questionnaire consists of three components: the study of KAP on COVID-19, the online learning readiness and psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Both of the KAP and online learning readiness questionnaire will be adopted, adapted and validated from previous research and will be based on a local study. As for the depression, anxiety and stress, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) questionnaire will be used. Duration of data collection is expected to be one month, and findings are expected to be ready by three months from the last data collection date. The exposure variables include sociodemographic factors and years of study, while the outcomes are the KAP scores, online learning readiness level, and DASS scores. Relationships between the outcomes and associated factors will be analysed once data collection is completed.

Introduction: Increasing prevalence of dementia and the associated caregiving burden are expected due to longer life expectancy. This review aimed to critically assess dementia-driven caregiving burden and the associated factors in Malaysia. Methods: A systematic search using several combinations of keywords was conducted in Ovid Medline, PubMed, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Ebscohost databases. The primary outcome was the score or level of caregiver burden, while the secondary outcome was the factors associated with such burden. The quality of the individual articles was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. Results: The systematic search resulted in seven studies being reviewed, consisting of six cross-sectional studies and one quasi-experimental study. Using the Zarit Burden Interview, two studies reported moderate caregiver burden with mean scores of 35.4 (15.08) and 46.0 (17.0). High levels of burden or strain were reported using the Caregiver Strain Index in other studies. The three main associated factors with burden identified in these studies were the presence of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), higher education level, and lack of social support. Conclusion: Moderate to severe caregiving burden level were found to be experienced by dementia caregivers in this country. High education, lack of support, as well as taking care of patient with BPSD being the most prominent factors associated with burden. Therefore, burden should be regularly assessed among the dementia caregivers especially among those with lack of social support and manage family members with BPSD, as to prevent adverse outcome from dementia caregiving.