A Review of Published Literature Regarding Health Issues of Coastal Communities in Sabah, Malaysia

Several of the coastal zones in Sabah, Malaysia, are isolated and inaccessible. This study aimed to review the published literature on the health status of the coastal communities in Sabah. The following four main health issues were found: (i) malaria, (ii) tuberculosis (TB), (iii) seafood poisoning, and (iv) antenatal problems. Factors associated with the risk of acquiring malarial infection in the studied coastal area were advanced age, male sex, farming as an occupation, history of travel outside the village, and rainy seasons. TB infection was primarily observed in adult men. Seafood poiso... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Amirah Azzeri
Goh Hong Ching
Hafiz Jaafar
Mohd Iqbal Mohd Noor
Nurain Amirah Razi
Amy Yee-Hui Then
Julia Suhaimi
Fatimah Kari
Maznah Dahlui
Dokumenttyp: Text
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Verlag/Hrsg.: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Schlagwörter: health status / coastal / Sabah
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26867080
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051533

Several of the coastal zones in Sabah, Malaysia, are isolated and inaccessible. This study aimed to review the published literature on the health status of the coastal communities in Sabah. The following four main health issues were found: (i) malaria, (ii) tuberculosis (TB), (iii) seafood poisoning, and (iv) antenatal problems. Factors associated with the risk of acquiring malarial infection in the studied coastal area were advanced age, male sex, farming as an occupation, history of travel outside the village, and rainy seasons. TB infection was primarily observed in adult men. Seafood poisoning was significantly common in Sabah. Studies have reported that tetrodotoxin and paralytic shellfish poisoning were commonly reported (30–60 cases annually). Several pregnant women in the coastal community had insufficient knowledge of the national antenatal care programme. Nonetheless, 99% of them received antenatal care at public healthcare facilities with 92% of them undergoing safe delivery. Nevertheless, a majority of the pregnant women had iodine deficiency due to low iodised salt intake. Findings from this review highlighted that the coastal communities in Sabah are experiencing significant health problems. Specific attention is required to significantly enhance the health and well-being of the individuals living in the coastal communities in Sabah.