Improving MSW landfilling system of developing countries: An assessment of current conditions and situations in Kedah, Malaysia

This article is about finding key structural and institutional adjustments that,if undertaken, would allow for realisation of continuous improvements to any municipal solid waste (MSW) landfilling system. Our analysis of the MSW landfilling systems of the developed nations had shown that every modern MSW landfilling system is comprised at least four major components that are interconnected. These four components are rules and regulations, environmental protection measures consisting of procedures, engineering, and technology, organisation and personnel arrangement, and revenues and costs. With the objective of finding what changes are necessary so as to cause improvement to the Kedah’s landfilling system, data on all four components were collected. The data gathering methods that were employed included a self-administered questionnaire, field observations, and structured interviews.Our assessment of the landfilling system of Kedah yielded the following results: the majority of landfill facilities in Kedah consisted of crude open dumping operations and the contributory factors to this situation include; facility operations were not overseen by higher level of governmental bodies; badly or improperly site, design, and construction criteria; facility management by either untrained or unskilled managers; and lack funds. The structural and institutional adjustments that we think should be undertaken include development of clearer laws and re-assignment of oversight responsibilities,adoption of appropriate landfilling practices and technology, creation of landfill worker training programmes, and the development of new financing devices to pay for higher costs associated with safer landfilling technology and management. Not until all of these four adjustments have been simultaneously 18 IJMS 14 (2), 17-33 (2007)considered, any attempts to cause improvements to the Kedah’s MSW landfilling systems will only just be a temporary solution

Do high income earners have better health? The case study in Kedah, Malaysia

Identifying important factors that influence health status is essential in ensuring an effective health intervention.One of the factors that may contribute to the differences in individual health is the level of income. This study attempts to determine the effect of income, measured at household level, on individual health within the Malaysian context.The sample consists of individuals aged 18 and above from selected households. The self-assessed health (SAH) is used in this study to represent health status.Given that the response of SAH is in the form of ordinal, the ordered logit model, which is more appropriate than the widely used linear regression techniques, is utilized in estimating the effect of income.Controlling for other socio-economic and other health-related factors, there is evidence that income is statistically significant in determining the level of individual health with a positive effect, suggesting the existence of income related inequity in health

Hubungan antara tahap kesihatan mental dan prestasi pelajar sarjana muda: satu kajian di Universiti Utara Malaysia

Kesihatan mental adalah adalah komponen yang penting untuk pembentukan modal insan yang berprestasi tinggi. Modal insan yang mempunyai produktiviti tinggi adalah faktor penentu kepada pertumbuhan sesebuah negara. Lantas, kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji hubungan antara tahap kesihatan mental pelajar sarjanamuda di Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) dengan prestasi mereka. Tahap kesihatan mental diukur menggunakan Soal Selidik Kesihatan Umum 12-item (12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)) dan prestasi diukur berdasarkan Purata Mata Gred Terkumpul (PMK). Seramai 316 pelajar sarjana muda di UUM telah menjawab soal selidik yang diedarkan. Data yang diperolehi dianalisis secara deskriptif dan kesan tahap kesihatan mental ke atas prestasi diuji dengan menggunakan model probit. Berdasarkan GHQ-12, 48% daripada responden mempunyai status kesihatan mental yang baik. Seramai 67.21% pelajar yang mempuyai PMK 3.67 dan ke atas mempunyai tahap kesihatan baik berbanding dengan hanya 36.08% untuk PMK di bawah 3.67. Berdasarkan model probit, didapati tahap kesihatan mental adalah signifikan pada aras keertian 1% dalam mempengaruhi PMK. Dapatan kajian ini memberi petunjuk kepada pembuat dasar bahawa kesihatan mental adalah faktor penting dalam mempengaruhi prestasi seseorang pelajar. Programprogram pendidikan kesihatan mental perlu dilaksanakan atau ditambah bagi meningkatkan kesedaran semua pihak terhadap kepentingan mental yang sihat di kalangan pelajar-pelajar di institut pengajian tinggi

Empowering older women in Malaysia: Understanding their health care demand

Understanding factors that affect health care demand by elderly women is vital for a health system to be more supportive towards women’s empowerment.This paper presents the medical care utilization of the elderly women; identify the existence of income-related inequity in health care utilization and the role of living arrangements of the elderly on health care utilization among the elderly women in Kedah State.A total number of 202 of respondents aged 62 to 95 were interviewed face-to-face using a structured questionnaire.The Probit and Poisson model were used in estimating the demand equation. It is found that income, after controlling for other socioeconomic and health related factors, is not statistically significant in affecting the likelihood of doctor visits, and the frequency of the visits.The role of living arrangement, as measured by marital status and the number of individual aged 18 and over living together is also not significant in both models.This result suggests that older women in the area of study can somehow make independent decisions regarding their health care demand, which demand should ideally base on health status rather than not other factors

Improving MSW Landfilling System of Developing Countries: An Assessment of Current Conditions and Situations in Kedah, Malaysia

This article is about finding key structural and institutional adjustments that, if undertaken, would allow for realisation of continuous improvements to any municipal solid waste (MSW) landfilling system. Our analysis of the MSW landfilling systems of the developed nations had shown that every modern MSW landfilling system is comprised at least four major components that are interconnected. These four components are rules and regulations, environmental protection measures consisting of procedures, engineering, and technology, organisation and personnel arrangement, and revenues and costs. With the objective of finding what changes are necessary so as to cause improvement to the Kedah’s landfilling system, data on all four components were collected. The data gathering methods that were employed included a self-administered questionnaire, field observations, and structured interviews. Our assessment of the landfilling system of Kedah yielded the following results: the majority of landfill facilities in Kedah consisted of crude open dumping operations and the contributory factors to this situation include; facility operations were not overseen by higher level of governmental bodies; badly or improperly site, design, and construction criteria; facility management by either untrained or unskilled managers; and lack funds. The structural and institutional adjustments that we think should be undertaken include development of clearer laws and re-assignment of oversight responsibilities, adoption of appropriate landfilling practices and technology, creation of landfill worker training programmes, and the development of new financing devices to pay for higher costs associated with safer landfilling technology and management. Not until all of these four adjustments have been simultaneously considered, any attempts to cause improvements to the Kedah’s MSW landfilling systems will only just be a temporary solution.

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension and its effects on healthcare demand among elderly in Malaysia

Introduction The prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Malaysia shows a rising trend that influences the society in many respects. Country specific evidence is vital for effective intervention. The aims of this study were to identify the role of gender and urbanisation status on NCDs prevalence and its effect on health care demand, specifically doctor visits among elderly in Malaysia. We focused on two of the highest occurrence NCDs in the country – diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Methods A total of 1,414 respondents aged 60 years and above were selected using a multistage sampling for face-to-face interview. We started the analysis with descriptive analysis of the prevalence, taking the effect of gender and urbanisation status of residing area. We extended the study with parametric analysis to find the effect of these health problems on the likelihood of doctor visits as it reflects the equity for access and utilisation issues. Results Results showed that there were no significant difference of prevalence by gender and urbanisation for hypertension and diabetes mellitus. By utilising probit model, we found that those with diabetes mellitus or hypertension, controlling for other variables, were more likely to utilise doctor services. Conclusion This result implies that the prevalence of NCDs may further increase demand for health care, especially in the state with a high proportion of older age groups

Distribution of the livelihood assets among the hardcore poor: Evidence from Kedah, Malaysia

The aim of this study is to analyze the distribution of the livelihood assets among the hardcore poor in mukim(sub-district) Kupang, Kedah.Based on the Sustainable Livelihood Analysis (SLA), a structured questionnaire has been designed to collect information on the livelihood assets of 150 hardcore poor in mukim Kupang which consist of financial, human, physical, natural and social assets.The study found that, on average, the possession of natural asset among the hardcore poor was the lowest as compared to other assets and their human and social assets were also rather low.The finding from this study may facilitate the local and state governments in understanding the root cause of poverty in Kedah.For effective intervention, this study suggests that emphasis should be given to the possession of natural and human assets among the hardcare poor, rather than highly relying on financial assistance policies

The sustainable livelihoods index: A tool to assess the ability and preparedness of the rural poor in receiving entrepreneurial project

This paper describes the Sustainable Livelihoods Index (SLI) as a useful tool in assessing the livelihood elements of the rural poor households. Income data alone may not fully reflect the suitability of the hardcore poor in receiving government assistance in the form of entrepreneurial projects.In this case rendered projects do not take into account the ability and preparedness of the poor in receiving the projects. The main objective of this study is to measure comprehensively all the livelihood elements of the rural poor households through developing a Sustainable Livelihood Index (SLI). This index was based on Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) framework.A total of 22 livelihood assets and outcomes indicators were identified from the data set and broadly grouped into five groups of assets namely human, physical, natural, social, financial assets and 2 groups of livelihoods outcomes which are food security and health status. Then, an aggregate SLI for each household was constructed by averaging all the seven groups of livelihood assets and outcomes indices with an equal weight. Overall, about 73% of considered households were attained an SLI below than 0.5, with a mean of 0.47. With regard to household income that has been used as a poverty measurement, the study found that the Sustainable Livelihood Index (SLI) was moved in tandem with the total of household income. There are 90.91% of the households in hardcore poor group were obtained SLI below 0.5 indicating that households with a low income will also have a low SLI.Although income and SLI were moved in the same direction, this paper suggests the use of SLI as a more analytically rigorous tool to assess the ability and preparedness of the rural poor than the regular use of household income level alone. Besides it may help the local authorities to broaden their scope in a manageable way as to ensure the sustainability of a given project

Determinants of Health Care Seeking Behavior: Does Insurance Ownership Matters?

Private health insurance has become an important health care financing mechanism. Generally, individuals purchase private health insurance to access private facilities. There is also evidence that individuals prefer private health care facilities due to perceived belief that private facilities offer better health quality and shorter waiting time. In the Malaysian context, the influence of health insurance ownership on the choice of health providers has not been explored. This paper attempts to investigate the individual health care seeking behaviors and determine the factors that influence the visit to the public and private health providers. The study employs the data from Malaysia National Health and Morbidity Survey III (2006) and 14,223 respondents are selected for this purpose.  Malaysia provides new evidence from an emerging market where voluntary purchase of private health insurance co-exists with almost free public health care. Multinomial logit model is used to determine factors that influence individual choice of public and private health providers over no utilization for inpatient services. From the analysis, it is found that insurance ownership determine the likelihood of choosing private hospitals but has no influence in the choice of public health providers. The findings suggest that extending health insurance program may promote higher access to private health care facilities specifically the inpatient service. Keywords: health insurance, hospital utilization, Malaysia JEL Classification: I1