Heel pain is a common presentation at any outpatient clinic. Heel pain may originate from either bone or the surrounding soft tissues. Tendo achilles tendinitis and plantar fasciitis are the two most common causes of heel pain. We report a case of an uncommon condition presenting through a common presentation at the primary care clinic, i.e., an intraosseous lipoma of the calcaneum presenting through heel pain. This tumour constitutes 0.1% of benign bone tumours and is 8% prevalent in the calcaneum bone.

Melanomas on the foot are difficult to differentiate from diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). In particular, acral lentiginous and amelanotic melanomas have a high chance of being misdiagnosed. We present two patients with diabetes mellitus and malignant melanomas of the foot initially diagnosed as DFU. Both cases were treated with wide excision amputation and local dissection, without adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Both patients remain disease-free up to the last follow-up visit. It is important to maintain a high index of suspicion and a skin biopsy should be done in any DFU with atypical features.

Background: Stigmatizing attitudes expressed by health care providers prevent some members of at-risk populations from accessing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening and care. This attitude contributes to the continuity of the infection dissemination within our community, which gives an impact on the healthcare service and the curtailment of the global HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic. Objective: This study was conducted to identify stigmatizing attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and their determinants among primary health care providers in Kinta District, Perak. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 36 primary care clinics in Kinta District, Perak. Using stratified random sampling, 365 primary health care providers were recruited into the study. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain sociodemographic data as well as information on the healthcare experiences of healthcare providers, their knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and attitudes toward PLWHA. Determinants were identified using multiple linear regression. Results: More than half of the respondents (54.1%) had never provided care to HIV/AIDS patients. A minority (29.9%) had received training on HIV/AIDS. This study shows that doctors (Coef.= -9.50, 95% CI: -18.93, -0.07, p= 0.048), respondents with HIV-positive relatives, (Coef.= -5.61, 95% CI: -10.57, -0.65, p= 0.027), those who had provided care to HIV/AIDS patients (Coef.= -2.38, 95% CI: -4.31, -0.45, p= 0.016), and those with a higher knowledge score on HIV/AIDS (Coef.= -0.86, 95% CI: -1.59, -0.13, p= 0.021) were less likely to show stigmatizing attitudes toward PLWHA. Conclusion: The issue of stigmatizing attitudes toward PLWHA among primary health care providers needs to be addressed. This study finds that knowledge, profession, experiences with caring for PLWHA, gender, and having HIV-positive relatives are significant predictors of stigmatizing attitudes toward PLWHA among primary health care providers in Kinta District, Perak. Interventional programs to improve knowledge and awareness, as well as decrease stigma toward PLWHA, should be implemented among all health care providers, especially those who have no opportunity to provide direct care.

Introduction: The World Health Organization recommends evaluation of maternal satisfaction to improve quality of health care during childbirth. Dissatisfaction may lead to undesired outcomes such as unassisted homebirth and delay in seeking treatment. Determining the maternal satisfaction level and its associated factors may help to improve health care services and prevent negative implications to both mothers and infants. This study aimed to determine the maternal satisfaction towards intrapartum care of designated healthcare facilities and its associated factors among postnatal women. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of postnatal women attended Klinik Kesihatan Salak from December 2017 to February 2018. Systematic random sampling with the ratio of 1:3 was applied to the eligible respondents. A self-administered questionnaire that include respondent’s socio-demographic characteristics and a validated 14-items Maternal Satisfaction with Hospital-based Intrapartum Care Scale was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS 23. Results: 274 respondents were recruited in this study. Overall, only 21.2% of respondents were satisfied with the intrapartum care given. The level of satisfaction was highest in interpersonal care domain (36.1%), followed by physical birth environment (34.3%) and the least satisfied was information and decision making domain (27.7%). Binary logistic regression showed that maternal satisfaction was significantly associated with place of birth (AOR (95% CI): 0.046 (0.183, 0.984)) and labour complications (AOR (95% CI): 3.387 (1.345, 8.528)). Conclusion: The overall maternal satisfaction towards intrapartum care was low and the information and decision-making domain appeared to be the least satisfied. Maternal satisfaction was associated with place of birth and labour complications. Therefore, health care providers should emphasize and improve the quality of services especially for this domain and to consider factor that contribute to dissatisfaction towards the intrapartum care.

Introduction: It is common, and many international and local studies confirm this, that women of reproductive age misperceive their body-weight status. This phenomenon can lead to their being less likely to adopt a healthy lifestyle which later exposes them to increased health problems and risks including those of a gynecological and obstetric nature. Generally, there have been inconsistent findings concerning the association between the self-perceived weight status and sociodemographic factors, physical activities, and previous weight loss attempts of women of reproductive age in an Asian population like Malaysia. Objective: This study aimed to determine the factors associated with body weight status misperception among reproductive-aged women at a primary care setting in Malaysia. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted at Klinik Kesihatan Durian Tunggal in 2016-2017. The questionnaire included questions on the perception of weight status, sociodemographic factors, smoking status, level of physical activity, and weight loss attempts. Logistic regressions were used for statistical analysis to examine the association between body weight status misperception and related factors. Results: The study recruited 630 reproductive-aged women. The mean age and SD of the respondents was 32.7 + 8.9 years, and 84% of the respondents were Malays. More than three-quarters of the respondents (75.5%, n = 476) had received up to a secondary level of education. The majority of the respondents were in the overweight/obese group (59.4%, n = 374). The mean BMI of the respondents was 27.1 kg/m2 + 6.61. Approximately 65.4% (n = 412) of the respondents had an inactive lifestyle. However, 60% (n = 378) of the respondents reported that they had attempted to reduce their weight in the last year. A total of 141 respondents (22.4%) misperceived their weight status with 113 (80.1% ) of them underestimating their weight status. Women with primary-level education (OR: 3.545, 95% CI: 1.530-8.215, p = 0.003) and secondary-level education (OR: 1.933, 95% CI: 1.065-3.510, p = 0.030) had a greater likelihood of misperceiving their body weight status as compared to those who have a tertiary level of education. Women with no weight loss attempts were also at risk of body weight status misperception (OR: 1.850, 95% CI: 1.195, 2.865, p = 0.006). Conclusion: Bodyweight status misperception among reproductive-aged women was associated with a low level of education and with those who had made no weight loss attempts. Identifying women who are at risk of misperceiving their weight status would enable early counseling on weight management.

Introduction: Since pharyngitis in adults is one of the most common infectious diseases seen in general practitioner consultations in Malaysia, data on pharyngitis among adults concerning to its prevalence, socio-demographic, risk factors and clinical manifestations is very much lacking. This study aims to determine the prevalence of pharyngitis among adults in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia from 2016 to 2017 and its associated demographic and risk factors. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 215 adult patients with a sore throat as the main symptom and who did not receive any antibiotic treatment within two weeks at three Malaysian primary care clinics. The researchers assessed the participants’ clinical manifestations and collected throat swabs for culture to determine the presence of group A streptococcus (GAS). Data on demographic characteristics, clinical manifestation and throat swab culture results were analyzed using chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression. Results: Pharyngitis was diagnosed in 130/215 (65%) adults with a sore throat. Only six isolates (2.8%) were identified as GAS. The overall mean age ± S.D was 36.43 ± 15.7. The majority of the participants were in the age group of 18-28 years. There were 42.3% males and 57.7% females; most participants were Malay 62.8%, followed by 30.2% Indian, 5.1% Chinese, and 1.9% other ethnicities. The most common symptom among the participants was cough 196 (91.2%), followed by rhinorrhea 161 (74.8%), tonsillar swelling or exudates 68 (31.6%), inflamed or reddish of pharynx 62 (28.8%), swollen anterior cervical lymph nodes 50 (23.3%), and fever ≥37.5°C 28 (13.0%). Conclusion: Besides, there was no significant association between pharyngitis and the demographic variables; the current findings emphasized that inflamed or reddish pharynx, tonsillar swelling or exudates were among the factors associated with pharyngitis.