Background: Migrant workers are exposed to vulnerable health risks related to occupational safety, infection and personal health risk behaviours. These vulnerabilities, together with low capacity to pay medical care, and poor access to healthcare, can result in unsatisfactory health outcomes. This objective of the study was to determine the pattern of morbidity and the care seeking behaviour of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Sarawak. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among Bangladeshi migrant workers in selected districts in Sarawak, Malaysia. A total of 314 Bangladeshi workers were interviewed by face to face using a pre-designed and validated questionnaire. Simple descriptive analysis was done using SPSS version 22.0. However, to supplement the quantitative findings, field notes were also analysed. Results: The mean (SD) age of the respondents was 35.9 (7.3) years. Most of the workers were engaged in manufacturing job (43%) followed by construction (32.2%) and a variety of job according to the employers' desire (22.9%). The median monthly salary of the workers was MYR 923 with median duration works was 10 years. One-fourth of the workers (25.5%) had no health insurance, while another one tenth of workers were unaware of health insurance. It was found that 20% had medial ailments in the last two weeks, while 45.2% had physical complaints in the last one month. The most frequent complaints were fever (48.4%) followed by injuries (11.3%) in the last two weeks. About three fifths (57.4% in last two weeks and 60.6% in last one month) visited private health hospitals or clinics for their treatment. Only a few workers visited public hospitals or clinics for their ailments. One-fifth of the workers were self-medicated. While another one tenth of workers visited traditional healer for their ailments. Qualitative analysis revealed a high cost and no scope of bargain as factors which discourage them to take treatment from public hospitals or clinics. The majority of migrant workers in this study sought healthcare when they fell ill. Conclusion: However, knowledge about health-related insurance was poor and low wage might be significant issues in accessing health care services. The study concluded that workers’ friendly health policy could be instituted for the welfare of the foreign workers’ despite of their awareness of local health services. Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull 2019; 45: 47-53
Background: Smoking electronic cigarette is a current world phenomenon, however, the vaping community had ignorant about its health effects. Considering this view, this study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge and attitude toward e-cigarette and factors associated with it.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among adults in the KOSPEN locality in Kuching district. Six out of the 64 KOSPEN localities had been chosen randomly as study locations. Systematic random sampling with replacement method was used to select the respondent. A total of 354 adults were interviewed by face to face interview using adapted and validated questionnaire. The data entry and analysis were done by IBM SPSS Version 22.0. A p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: Data revealed that 66% of the respondents admitted that they heard about e-cigarette. Among them 54.3% of the respondent had good knowledge about e-cigarette. However, more than half (52.8%) do not support the use of e-cigarette. Bi-variate analysis revealed that male gender and attitude towards supporting e-cigarette was significantly associated with practice of e-cigarette (p<0.05). However, for the conventional practice of smoking, age, gender, marital status, level of education and occupation found to be significantly associated with practice of conventional smoking.Conclusions: Though the study did not depict the national scenarios of e-smoking and conventional cigarette smoking as well, but the factors identified in this study appeared to be policy options for the programme managers, health administration, and health educators designing the preventive programmes against e-smoking and conventional smoking.
Background: Acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) continues to be a public health challenge. Migrant workers are vulnerable to indulge in high-risk health behaviors. In this context, we analyzed the impact of perceived knowledge and attitude towards human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS on sexual behavior among migrant workers in Sarawak, Malaysia.Material and methods: Data of 314 migrant workers were collected via face-to-face interview, using a cross-sectional structured questionnaires. Data analysis were done using Stata version 16.0; however, a structural equation model was developed and evaluated with WarpPLs, version 7.0.Results: Hypothetical model of sexual behavior, and perceived knowledge and attitude towards HIV/ AIDS were investigated in the present study. Analysis revealed that both directly and indirectly mediated through attitudes towards HIV/AIDS influence sexual behavior (p < 0.05). Moreover, attitude towards HIV/AIDS directly influenced sexual behavior (p < 0.05). However, knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission did not affect sexual behavior (p > 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that construction workers (p < 0.05) and daily wage (p < 0.001) had an impact on HIV and AIDS knowledge. Type of job such as farming (p < 0.05), daily wage (p < 0.05), and HIV and AIDS knowledge had an impact on attitude towards HIV and AIDS. However, type of job and daily wage appeared to be significant predictors of sexual behavior.Conclusions: Although this study did not describe overall sexual behavior scenario among migrant workers, the findings could support guidelines and policies to developed awareness-creating packages, including HIV/AIDS behavior change communication. That would help to diminish HIV/AIDS vulnerability among migrant workers.
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