A cross-sectional study through clinic assessment and adolescent satisfaction survey was conducted in a Malaysian state to determine the proportion of clinics that provided adolescent-friendly health services, identify the crucial criteria for the provision of adolescent-friendly health services and determine the correlation of adolescent-friendliness level with the satisfaction level of adolescents. Out of 85 clinics, only 35.3% (95%CI: 0.25, 0.46) can be regarded as adolescent-friendly clinics. Large clinics showed significantly [F(2,84) = 13.82, p < 0.001] higher mean score than smaller clinics. Adolescent-friendly clinics had significantly (p < 0.05) higher mean score in 11 of 12 criteria of best practices than conventional clinics. Adolescents were more satisfied with the health services provided by adolescent-friendly clinics than conventional clinics (p < 0.05). There is a significantly (p < 0.05) strong correlation between clinic assessment score and adolescent satisfaction level (r = 0.643). This study provides important insight for the Ministry of Health to strengthen the provision of adolescent-friendly health services in Malaysia.

A mixed-methods study was conducted in a Malaysian state beginning with a cross-sectional quantitative study to determine the relationship between clinic characteristics and clinic score of adolescent-friendliness. Subsequently, perceptions of healthcare providers on the facilitating factors for the provision of adolescent-friendly health services were explored qualitatively to support the quantitative findings. Availability of trained healthcare providers, adequate privacy, dedicated adolescent health services team, and adolescent health promotional activities were the clinic characteristics that significantly (p < 0.05) related with clinics’ scores of adolescent-friendliness. The facilitating factors required for adolescent-friendly health services were (1) healthcare providers’ commitment and prioritization towards adolescent-friendly health services; (2) organizational supports; (3) appropriate clinic settings; and (4) external supports for adolescent health promotional activities. The qualitative findings reaffirmed those of the quantitative study on the significant clinic characteristics required for adolescent-friendly health services. This study provides valuable insight for the Ministry of Health to elicit the required facilitating factors to further improve the quality of adolescent health services in Malaysia.

We sought to determine the total proportion of pediatric tuberculosis cases, characterize tuberculosis by its anatomical location and pretreatment sputum smear status, and to determine the association of the sociodemographic and clinical factors with tuberculosis disease among pediatric patients in Kelantan from 2012 until 2015. We conducted a comparative cross-sectional study between tuberculosis cases and tuberculosis contacts among pediatric patients using the Tuberculosis Information System as a source population. All notified cases that fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study. Descriptive statistics, simple and multiple logistic regressions were used for data analysis. Of 5412 tuberculosis cases, 456 (8.4%) were pediatric patients with a mean age of 15.9 years. The majority had the pulmonary form of tuberculosis (78.1%) followed by the extrapulmonary (14.9%) and pulmonary form with concomitant extrapulmonary (7.0%) forms. Of all pulmonary tuberculosis cases, 64.9% were sputum smear-positive, and 35.1% were sputum smear-negative. Among 322 pediatric patients with tuberculosis, the majority were Malay (90.7%), 8.4% were illiterate, and 79.5% resided in non-urban areas. Of all cases, 2.8% were HIV-positive, and 14.6% were cigarette smokers. Older age, Malay ethnicity, female gender, non-urban residence, good education level, and cigarette smoking were the significant associated factors for tuberculosis disease among pediatric patients with an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 1.41 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.29-1.54; p < 0.001), 0.17 (95% CI: 0.07-0.44; p < 0.001), 1.88 (95% CI: 1.33-2.65; p < 0.001), 1.92 (95% CI: 1.33-2.79; p = 0.001), 0.20 (95% CI: 0.12-0.33; p < 0.001), and 3.35 (95% CI: 1.86-6.01; p < 0.001), respectively. The study will assist practices of tuberculosis detection and control management in the local setting and may help other national tuberculosis programs to review their detection criteria with similar statistics.

Background: Poor glycemic control remains an on-going public health concern worldwide. With the increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Malaysia, good control of blood glucose level is paramount to avert life-long complications of diabetes mellitus. Hence, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of poor glycemic control and its associated factors to assist clinicians in achieving good glycemic control among diabetic patients.Materials and Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study between groups of good glycemic control and poor glycemic control patients was conducted among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients who fulfilled study criteria in Pasir Puteh district, Kelantan, a northeast state of Peninsular Malaysia. Eligible samples registered in the National Diabetes Registry from 1st January 2019 until 31st December 2019 were recruited into the study. Descriptive statistics, simple and multiple logistic regressions were used for data analysis.Results: The prevalence of patients with poor glycemic control in Pasir Puteh district was 79.6%% (95% CI: 0.78, 0.81). Multivariable analysis using multiple logistic regression revealed age, duration of diabetes, cigarette smoking, presence of hypertension and presence of dyslipidaemia were the significant factors associated with poor glycemic control among T2DM patients in Pasir Puteh district with an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of 0.93 (95%CI:0.91, 0.94); p<0.001), AOR 1.19 (95%CI:1.14, 1.25; p<0.001), AOR 2.75 (95%CI:1.52, 4.97; p=0.001), AOR 2.19 (95%CI:1.32, 3.62; p=0.002) and AOR 2.16 (95%CI:1.45, 3.21; p<0.001) respectively.Conclusion: This study provided important criteria for clinicians to improve management of diabetes mellitus and optimize glycemic control based on the pinpointed significant risk factors.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 04 No. 03 July’20 Page : 206-214