The Impact of Urban Residential Noise and Air Pollution on Youth Mental Health: A Scoping Review Introduction Urban noise and air pollution contribute indirectly to mental health disorders, particularly among adolescents and young adults, due to their ongoing neurodevelopment and increased exposure to environmental pollutants. Hence, it is crucial to understand the impact of urban environmental pollution on youth's mental health. Methods This scoping review was conducted to evaluate the impact of urban air and noise pollution on youth mental health. Articles published between January 2014 and October 2024 were identified through four databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest), using terms such as noise pollution, air pollution, mental health, and youth. Studies involving urban youth and mental health as an outcome were included. Data from eligible studies were synthesized to identify patterns and gaps in the literature. Results Fourteen studies (n = 14) were included out of 1555 records retrieved. Long term exposure to air pollutants, such as PM 2.5, PM 10, and NO2, were consistently associated with negative mental health outcomes, including poor mental health (PM2.5: OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.03-1.38; NO2: OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.04-1.38; PM10: OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.98-1.17); depression and anxiety (PM2.5: OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.12-1.38; PM10: OR = 1.87, 95 % CI 1.69–2.07); and internalizing symptoms. Short-term exposure also contributed to indirect mental health burden through increased emergency visits and increased psychotropic medications. Findings were heterogeneous for noise pollution, with short-term exposure linked to generally poor mental health, whereas long-term exposure was associated with depression, anxiety, and suicidal risk in some studies. Conclusions The review highlights the significant effect of urban air and noise pollution on youth mental health. Targeted and effective interventions, including urban planning, environmental regulations, and youth-focused public health strategies, are necessary to mitigate these negative effects.

Gender Identities and Orientations: Demographic Change and the Health Effects They Experience Introduction LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) refers to a diverse group of people who have different sexual orientations and gender identities. In population structure, LGBT individuals are considered a minority group because they represent a smaller percentage of the population, estimated at between 2% and 10% in the world compared to heterosexual individuals. Our objective in this paper is to highlight the demographic shifts associated with the increasing visibility and recognition of the LGBT community, while also examining the broader implications of these shifts on public health outcomes. Methods This brief communication review was based on a literature search conducted from four databases: PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science. All articles published from 2012 to 2024 were accounted for by using keywords such as “LGBT”, “gay”, “transgender”, “bisexual” “population changes”, “population dynamic”, “population shift”, “demographic shift”, “demographic changes”. Results The extracted evidence from the literature was then formulated into 2 main focus areas: Population Dynamics Implications and Public Health Impact. Conclusions The health disparities faced by the LGBT community stem from stigma and discrimination, impacting their overall well-being. As the LGBT population grows, it will affect population dynamics by reducing growth rates, increasing migration to more inclusive countries, and raising mortality rates from related diseases. Addressing these challenges requires improved access to healthcare, including HIV and cancer screenings, gender-affirming therapy, and PrEP.

Introduction: Malaysia's economic development increases the demand for immigrant workers to ensure health equality. To achieve Universal Health Coverage, issues related to immigrants need to be revisited Methods: A narrative review was conducted on specific scopes of health access barriers among immigrants from Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Results: Immigrants face health inequalities due to complex immigration policies, cultural and social adaptation differences, language barriers, financial constraints, and low literacy awareness of healthcare systems. Conclusions This brief essay highlights challenges for immigrants adhering to Malaysia’s Health White Paper strategies in meeting Universal Health Coverage. Expanding these strategies is vital to uphold immigrants’ fundamental rights and ensure health equality among the minority group of the population.

Introduction: Home-based maternal records were first designed for better monitoring during pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period. There are various studies that reported on the benefits of paper handheld record for mothers in across regions. However, majority of the studies on paper handheld record or home-based record were mainly addressing the benefit and very scare on the challenges faced by the users. This study aims to evaluate the benefits and challenges of the maternal paper handheld to users particularly to mothers and healthcare providers in Southeast Asia (SEA) region Methods: Articles were searched from Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed using relevant keywords based on the review topic. Based on PRISMA guidelines, the search results were then screened based on inclusion criteria: published between 2012 and 2021in English language, available in full text, open access, and conducted in Southeast Asia. Six articles were included in the final analysis, which were also appraised for their quality Results: There are six articles included in this review. Majority of the studies highlighted the benefits of paper handheld records to mothers. Upon further analysis, there are three major themes emerged from the outcome namely mother’s knowledge, maternal health service utilization and breastfeeding practice. Only one study reported on the challenges faced by mothers and care provider while utilising the paper handheld record. Conclusions The paper handheld maternal record implementation in SEA exhibited great positive impact to the mothers in terms of knowledge, maternal health service utilization and breastfeeding practice. Nonetheless, it is quite difficult to find studies that addressed the challenges faced by the users in SEA region. It would be best to understand the challenges faced regionally or even locally to make improvement of the maternal health service as it needs to be comprehensive and suited with the local context.

Introduction: The Malaysian healthcare system, particularly for maternal and child health, has been well recognised to provide high-quality services and be at par with systems in other developed countries. Current health programmes and technological advancements effectively detect vulnerable groups of children, such as small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants, antenatally. However, the postnatal care for SGA infants is not clearly evaluated, as this group of children is mostly classified as healthy in many medical contexts, especially in primary care settings. Available health programmes and healthcare service delivery must be continuously evaluated by implementing beneficial and relevant evidence-based theories. Methods: Articles, reports and guidelines used in providing mother and child health services in Malaysia published since 2000 were reviewed. Results: There was no specific monitoring strategy used for SGA infants without critical health issues in early childhood, as they were commonly treated as healthy infants. Several challenges in aligning theory with the current practice of healthcare service delivery and recommendations for dealing with such challenges were identified. Conclusion The alignment of theory with the current practice of service delivery should be tailored to the needs and demands parallel to the dynamic change in populations in the urbanisation era.
Child Health ; Infant, Small for Gestational Age

Introduction: Small for gestational age (SGA) infants have been linked to poor growth trends and nutritional status. SGA infants that do not reach their full growth potential must be supervised by a multidisciplinary medical team. Parents devote more time, energy, and money for raising of the SGA infants. The objective of this present study is to explore the perceptions and the experiences of the mother in nurturing the small for gestational age infants in their first year of life. Method: A qualitative exploratory descriptive study via in-depth interview was conducted in the primary health clinics in urban areas in Malaysia to explore the mothers’ perceptions and experiences in SGA infant’s care. 13 SGA infant’s mothers participated in the study after the children achieved the age of one year old. Thematic analysis was conducted using software ATLAS.ti version 8. Results: The average mothers’ age in this study were 33 years old, majority was Malay ethnicity. Only one mother was a housewife and others were working mother. Four out of 13 SGA infants were born prematurely. This study found that homogenous experiences throughout the pregnancy and baby nurturing phase, perceptions on husband involvement and external supports in infant care, infant health status and health services provided, were highlighted as important contributor to infant survival. Conclusion: The importance of monitoring SGA infant growth and nutritional status have been highlighted. Maternal psychological support needs to be enhanced to ease the burden in SGA infant care. Targeted program intervention for family and community social support during postnatal and empowering mothers in nurturing their infants are crucial.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify small for gestational age (SGA) infants' growth patterns, nutritional status, and associated factors. Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted at primary-care child health clinics in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The sample consisted of infants who fulfilled the criteria and were born in 2019. The anthropometric data of infants were assessed at birth and at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Results: A total of 328 infants were analysed. In total, 27.7%(n=91) of the subjects were SGA infants, and 237 of them were not. Significant differences in the median weight-for-age and length-for-age z-scores were observed between SGA and non-SGA infants at birth, 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months. There was a significant difference between the growth patterns of SGA and non-SGA infants. Birth weight and sex significantly predicted the nutritional status(stunting and underweight) of SGA infants during their first year of life. Conclusion SGA infants can catch up to achieve normal growth during their first year of life. Even though the nutritional status of SGA infants trends worse than non-SGA infants, adequate infant birth weight monitoring and an emphasis on nutritional advice are crucial for maintaining well-being.

Support and education are vital for preemie moms to provide a comprehensive guide and ensure effective implementation of relevant information for premature baby care after NICU discharge. The present study aimed to determine the component of caregiving activities for premature babies. A six-stage methodological framework was used in guiding the review process recommended by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). The EBSCOhost Medical database, which included Medline, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection, and Ovid, grey literature, reference list, and the Google Scholar search engine, was used for the search strategies. A total of 105 studies of English-language articles were tracked from the year 2000–2016. Selecting only full text and peer review resulting in ten studies and eight relevant documents. Nineteen themes were identified related to premature baby care activities. In conclusion, the themes revealed were best described as specific caregiving activities for premature babies valuable for mothers to organise post-discharge care. To engage, mothers should provide appropriate care to their premature babies as NICU babies are more fragile than normal newborn babies.

Introduction: The magnitude of drowning as one of the leading causes of death among children in Malaysia may have been underestimated. Little is known on the level of awareness on water safety among parents as it might be associated with appropriateness and adequacy of the supervision. This study aims to describe perceptions of water safety among parents of primary school children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with 719 respondent conducted to obtain information on parents self-reported on their children’s water-involved activity and swimming ability, self-estimated ability to rescue their child and perceptions of the risk of drowning and water safety for their children. Results: The result revealed that about 21.6% of respondents did not perceive drowning as one of the unintentional injury leading causes of death among children. Parents reported that their children had experienced a near- drowning incident (16.1%), and only 12.2% of the child had attended a formal swimming lesson. Majority of the parents did not involve in any water safety program (98.7%), can’t swim (61.6%), not been certified in CPR (87.3%) and not confident (87.3%) to perform resuscitation (CPR). Respondents also perceived their children could swim (42.1%), and they felt confident when their child in the water (45.6%). There were statistical differences between parents who reported their child had a near-drowning experience with their perception of children’s swimming ability. Conclusion: An exploration of parent’s perception of water safety provided an overview of the need for promoting awareness on drowning risk and water safety education in this country.

​In Malaysia although mortality rate among women of reproductive ages has reduced over the years, the reduction has been stagnant for the past ten years. In order to achieve the 5th Millennium Development Goal, several measures need to be taken including a proper implementation of pre-pregnancy services in this country. This study explores the awareness, intention and usage of pre-pregnancy care (PPC) services and its determinant among women of reproductive ages in Kedah, Malaysia. This is a qualitative study, which consisted of a focus group discussion (FGD) among women in the ages of 18 to 45 years old from all ethnic groups who attended four government clinics in the state of Kedah. The mothers were chosen through purposive sampling from twelve districts that were selected through a multistage random sampling. A semi-structured questionnaire was utilized during the FGD. The results from the FGD were recorded verbatim and thematic analysis was finalized once saturation of information from respondents was achieved. These are two themes was identified, namely personal reasons and reasons of service and there are several subthemes under two main themes. Under the Personal reason themes, the subthemes including awareness and intention to used the services, knowledge, perception, social support and history of medical illness. While under pre-pregnancy care services themes, the subthemes including the promotion of the services, the communication relationship with the health staff, the waiting time and also the accessibility of the service. As a conclusion, there is still part of society who was unaware of pre-pregnancy services and its importance in reducing maternal mortality rate as well as producing good pregnancy outcome. Information and knowledge on pre-pregnancy care services should be disseminated among community members through various means including roadshows and pre wedding workshops.​