• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.5-15
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• 2017

The Northern States of Malaysia comprises of four states (Penang, Kedah, Perlis and Perak) still record high poverty incidence eventhough Malaysia has experienced a remarkable reduction of poverty over the past century. Economic activities in Perlis and Kedah that are predominantly agriculture in the rural area contribute to this disparity. To add, rural households are also subject to risks and uncertainties that make them more vulnerable to poverty. This study examines the impact of risks and assets on households' vulnerability to poverty. A survey of 400 respondents was conducted in December 2015 in the northern region of Malaysia. From these 400 questionnaires, only 298 were considered valid and used in the analysis. Using a logistic probability function, the results indicated that risks are not a significant threat to households. Gender and strata are crucial elements that significantly determine households' vulnerability. While human capital and financial capital significantly reduce households' vulnerability to poverty, physical and natural capitals were not statistically significant. The study suggests that the government and practitioners design strategies and policies with an assets-based approach. The asset-based approach is more appropriate for linking the causes of poverty to vulnerability.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2008

This cross-sectional study assessed household food insecurity among low-income rural communities and examined its association with demographic and socioeconomic factors as well as coping strategies to minimize food insecurity. Demographic, socioeconomic, expenditure and coping strategy data were collected from 200 women of poor households in a rural community in Malaysia. Households were categorized as either food secure (n=84) or food insecure (n=116) using the Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity instrument. T-test, Chi-square and logistic regression were utilized for comparison of factors between food secure and food insecure households and determination of factors associated with household food insecurity, respectively. More of the food insecure households were living below the poverty line, had a larger household size, more children and school-going children and mothers as housewives. As food insecure households had more school-going children, reducing expenditures on the children's education is an important strategy to reduce household expenditures. Borrowing money to buy foods, receiving foods from family members, relatives and neighbors and reducing the number of meals seemed to cushion the food insecure households from experiencing food insufficiency. Most of the food insecure households adopted the strategy on cooking whatever is available at home for their meals. The logistic regression model indicates that food insecure households were likely to have more children (OR=1.71; p<0.05) and non-working mothers (OR=6.15; p<0.05), did not own any land (OR=3.18; p<0.05) and adopted the strategy of food preparation based on whatever is available at their homes (OR=4.33; p<0.05). However, mothers who reported to borrow money to purchase food (OR=O.84; p<0.05) and households with higher incomes of fathers (OR=O.99; p<0.05) were more likely to be food secure. Understanding the factors that contribute to household food insecurity is imperative so that effective strategies could be developed and implemented.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1125-1130
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• 2012

Objective: The objective of present study is to investigate the determinants of smoking behaviour among adults in Malaysia. Method: Findings of the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS-3) by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia, were used. The sample consisted of 34,539 observations. A logistic regression model was thus applied to estimate the probability to participate in smoking. Results: Age, income, gender, marital status, ethnicity, employment status, residential area, education, lifestyle and health status were statistically significant in affecting the likelihood of smoking. Specifically, youngsters, low income earners, males, unmarried individuals, Malays, employed individuals, rural residents and primary educated individuals were more likely to smoke. Conclusion: In conclusion, socio-demographic, lifestyle and health factors have significant impacts on smoking participation in Malaysia. Based on these empirical findings, several policy implications are suggested.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8495-8501
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to assess the agreement and differences between cervical self-sampling with a Kato device (KSSD) and gynecologist sampling for Pap cytology and human papillomavirus DNA (HPV DNA) detection. Materials and Methods: Women underwent self-sampling followed by gynecologist sampling during screening at two primary health clinics. Pap cytology of cervical specimens was evaluated for specimen adequacy, presence of endocervical cells or transformation zone cells and cytological interpretation for cells abnormalities. Cervical specimens were also extracted and tested for HPV DNA detection. Positive HPV smears underwent gene sequencing and HPV genotyping by referring to the online NCBI gene bank. Results were compared between samplings by Kappa agreement and McNemar test. Results: For Pap specimen adequacy, KSSD showed 100% agreement with gynecologist sampling but had only 32.3% agreement for presence of endocervical cells. Both sampling showed 100% agreement with only 1 case detected HSIL favouring CIN2 for cytology result. HPV DNA detection showed 86.2%agreement (K=0.64, 95% CI 0.524-0.756, p=0.001) between samplings. KSSD and gynaecologist sampling identified high risk HPV in 17.3% and 23.9% respectively (p=0.014). Conclusion: The self-sampling using Kato device can serve as a tool in Pap cytology and HPV DNA detection in low resource settings in Malaysia. Self-sampling devices such as KSSD can be used as an alternative technique to gynaecologist sampling for cervical cancer screening among rural populations in Malaysia.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.673-685
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• 2020

Financial literacy is one of the sustainable development goals of huge concern of governments. Governments explore solutions addressing policies to improve financial literacy. Nevertheless, financial management has such a broad scope and is not just limited to knowledge. As human nature, individuals are born with different confidence levels that include various financial abilities. This study aims to investigate the household-financial efficacy through the application of psychometric instruments, risk preference, and demographic characteristics toward consumption decision behavior. The research is based on a survey 479 households in the peninsular Malaysia, and utilizes the structural equation model, cluster proportional and systematic random sampling, and two measurements - composite reliability and average variance extracted. Results show that households' financial efficacy is one of the critical factors that explain the households' consumption decision behavior. Also, risk preference, gender and area location (rural or urban) of the household determined the consumption decision behavior of the household. The effectiveness of consumption decision is not only determined by financial literacy, but also financial efficacy. The implications of this paper may help to design policies in narrowing the broad gap between the rural and urban level of financial efficacy. The government needs to take appropriate actions to fix it.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.505-513
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• 2021

Poverty is often referred to as a phenomenon of scarcity, inadequacy or instability of income. Besides, poverty can also cause health issues, exacerbate social problems, leading to isolation, discrimination and loss of a bright future. Lately, the role of zakat (the compulsory giving of a set proportion of one's wealth to charity) as a useful tool in combating poverty has been highlighted since zakat collected will be distributed specifically to the poor and needy groups. This paper seeks to assess the role of zakat in combating poverty among recipients. A questionnaire was distributed to 300 participants selected from the list of recipients who received assistance from Zakat institutions. A cluster random sampling has been utilized to select sampling from the target population. The data were analyzed using SPSS to provide descriptive analysis. Past evidence has shown how zakat has able to transform the recipient into a payer especially through education or business assistance. Proper management of zakat institution is seen as a powerful mechanism to facilitate community development and to strengthen the Muslim economy. Results show the importance of zakat in the effort to eradicate poverty and further able to improve the asnaf's quality of life.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.61-85
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• 2023

The study aims to investigate the factors pursuing the women entrepreneurs to accept Islamic microfinance (IMF) in urban and rural areas of Malaysia. For this purpose, the study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Innovation and Diffusion Theory to explain Islamic microfinance adoption. Using the structural equation model (SEM) with primary data collected from 384-woman entrepreneurs in Malaysia, the current study uses a 5-point Likert scale. On the basis of theory and collected data, the seven hypotheses are developed. All hypotheses are validated by both directly and indirectly, as well as through a mediating factor. Among the factors, knowledge about IMF and subjective norms significantly influence the acceptance of IMF. On the other hand, the perceived complexity does not show any substantial relationship to the acceptance of IMF. This outcome will be helpful in supporting policymakers, academics, and future studies and must take into account the supported factors. Therefore, the study contributes to develop an innovative framework, to create self-employment for women entrepreneurs.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.304-311
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between household food insecurity and nutritional status of children in low-income households. A cross sectional study involved a survey of households (n = 223) receiving the financial assistance. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Eligible mothers that fulfilled the inclusion criteria such as non-pregnant, non-lactating mothers, aged 18 to 55 years with their youngest children aged 2 to 12 years, were purposively selected. The Radimer/Cornell hunger and food-insecurity instrument was administered and children's height and weight were measured. RESULTS: About 16.1% of the households were food secure, while 83.9% experienced some kind of food insecurity. Out of food insecure category, 29.6% households were food insecure, 19.3% women were individual food insecure and 35.0% fell into the child hunger category. Education of the mother (P = 0.047), household size (P = 0.024), number of children (P = 0.024), number of children going to school (P = 0.048), total monthly income (P < 0.001), income per capital (P < 0.001), number of household members contributing to the income (P = 0.018) and food expenditure (P = 0.006) were significant risk factors for household food insecurity. The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in children were 61.0%, 61.4% and 30.6% respectively. Based on multinomial logistic regression, children in food-insecure households were 2.15 times more likely to be underweight and three times to be stunted than children in the food-secure households. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that household food insecurity is associated with the nutritional status of the children in the rural area of Northeastern Peninsular Malaysia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7161-7164
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• 2013

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women globally. This study was conducted to compare the awareness of breast cancer and the practice of breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammography screening among rural females in Pahang and Perak. A cross-sectional study was carried out in five selected rural districts of Pahang and Perak. Two hundred and fifty households were randomly selected and interviewed face to face using a semi-structured questionnaire. The majority of residents from both states were Malay, aged between 50 and 60 years and had a secondary level of education. Malay women aged 40-49 years and women with a higher level of education were significantly more aware of breast cancer (p<0.05). About half of these women practiced BSE (60.7%) and CBE (56.1%), and 7% had underwent mammography screening. The results of this study suggest that women in Pahang and Perak have good awareness of breast cancer and that more than half practice BSE and CBE. The women's level of education appears to contribute to their level of knowledge and health behaviour. However, more effort is needed to encourage all women in rural areas to acquire further knowledge on breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.559-564
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• 2015

Background: The participation of women in cervical cancer screening in Malaysia is low. Self-sampling might be able to overcome this problem. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of self-sampling for cervical smear in our country. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 258 community dwelling women from urban and rural settings who participated in health campaigns. In order to reduce the sampling bias, half of the study population performed the self-sampling prior to the physician sampling while the other half performed the self-sampling after the physician sampling, randomly. Acquired samples were assessed for cytological changes as well as HPV DNA detection. Results: The mean age of the subjects was $40.4{\pm}11.3years$. The prevalence of abnormal cervical changes was 2.7%. High risk and low risk HPV genotypes were found in 4.0% and 2.7% of the subjects, respectively. A substantial agreement was observed between self-sampling and the physician obtained sampling in cytological diagnosis (k=0.62, 95%CI=0.50, 0.74), micro-organism detection (k=0.77, 95%CI=0.66, 0.88) and detection of hormonal status (k=0.75, 95%CI=0.65, 0.85) as well as detection of high risk (k=0.77, 95%CI=0.4, 0.98) and low risk (K=0.77, 95%CI=0.50, 0.92) HPV. Menopausal state was found to be related with 8.39 times more adequate cell specimens for cytology but 0.13 times less adequate cell specimens for virological assessment. Conclusions: This study revealed that self-sampling has a good agreement with physician sampling in detecting HPV genotypes. Self-sampling can serve as a tool in HPV screening while it may be useful in detecting cytological abnormalities in Malaysia.