Malaysia suffers from a chronic shortage of human organs for transplantation. Medical and nursing students (MaNS) are future health professionals and thus their attitude toward organ donation is vital for driving national donation rates. This study investigates MaNS’ willingness to donate organs upon death and the factors influencing their willingness. A cross-sectional design was used with a sample of 500 students (264 medical and 236 nursing) at the University of Malaya. A self-administrated questionnaire was used. The responses were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression. Of all respondents, 278 (55.6%) were willing to donate organs upon death, while the remaining 222 (44.4%) were unwilling to donate. Only 44 (8.8%) had donor cards. The multiple logistic regression revealed that the minorities ethnic group was more willing to donate organs than Malay respondents (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.98, P = 0.010). In addition, medical students were more willing to donate than nursing students (aOR = 2.53, P = 0.000). Respondents who have a family member with a donor card were more willing to donate than respondents who do not (aOR = 3.48, P = 0.006). MaNS who believed that their religion permits deceased donation were more willing to donate than their counterparts (aOR = 4.96, P = 0.000). Household income and sex were not significant predictors of MaNS’ willingness to donate organs upon death. MaNS have moderate willingness, but low commitment toward deceased organ donation. Strategies for improving MaNS’ attitude should better educate them on organ donation, targeting the most the Malay and nursing students, and should consider the influence of family attitude and religious permissibility on MaNS’ willingness.

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Owing to the multi-ethnic backgrounds, Malaysians celebrate their annual festivals and all of the celebrations have become a cultural tradition. The major ethnic group festival celebrations include Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Malays), Deepavali (Indians) and Chinese New Year (Chinese), have been recognised by the Malaysian government to be a national celebration and yearly events. These events are popularly known as Rumah Terbuka. Even though the celebration of Rumah Terbuka festivals have started and celebrated widely many years ago, each celebration has managed to attract a huge crowd from different ethnicities and backgrounds. People are willing to spend time queuing which sometimes could stretch into long hours before they can be seated and enjoy the Rumah Terbuka festivals. Therefore, it raises a question on factors that influence visitors to attend the festivals. Hence, this study empirically examines the factors that influence visitors to attend the Rumah Terbuka Aidilfitri festival. Using this festival in Perak as 26 the contextual setting, the visitors were given questionnaires to be answered. Through a series of analyses, some useful insights or predictors on the issue of interest were obtained. Majority of the respondents demonstrated positive responses on the attributes of the festival. Improvement needs to be done by the government authorities or the organiser in planning and managing such festival in order to increase visitor satisfaction. The findings for this study could contribute to the body of new knowledge regarding the festival celebration. Keywords: eid festivity, rumah terbuka, Malaysia, Malays, festival, foods, visitor

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