The current COVID-19 pandemic has exposed missing links between health promotion and national/global health emergency policies. In response, health promotion initiatives were urgently developed and applied around the world. A selection of case studies from five countries, based on the Socio-Ecological Model of Health Promotion, exemplify 'real-world' action and challenges for health promotion intervention, research, and policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interventions range from a focus on individuals/families, organizations, communities and in healthcare, public health, education and media systems, health-promoting settings, and policy. Lessons learned highlight the need for emphasizing equity, trust, systems approach, and sustained action in future health promotion preparedness strategies. Challenges and opportunities are highlighted regarding the need for rapid response, clear communication based on health literacy, and collaboration across countries, disciplines, and health and education systems for meaningful solutions to global health crises.
Matched MeSH terms: Health Promotion*; Public Health*
Republished in:
1. Republished in: Teng CL, Khoo EM, Ng CJ (editors). Family Medicine, Healthcare and Society: Essays by Dr M K Rajakumar, Second Edition. Kuala Lumpur: Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia, 2019: 103-107
2. An Uncommon Hero. p361-365
A shared experience in Health and Education are essential ingredients of nationhood. In healthcare, it is constructive to think in terms of the characteristics of a healthcare system that a substantial majority of our people would be enthusiastic to claim ownership. It is useful to think in terms of the elements of a 'charter for health for all Malaysians towards 2020' a) Healthcare for all Malaysians, that is equitable, accessible, and comprehensive. b) Care of quality given with courtesy and respect for patients and their families, with no financial barriers at the time of need. c) A commitment to healthcare of a quality that is appropriate to a Malaysia as a developed country by the Year 2020. Each Five-Year Plan should move in that direction, guided by extensive consultation with the community on priorities and preferences. We have to overcome the 'colonial hangover' that still leaves its mark. Health investment is still concentrated in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, and in other cities. It is a hospital-centred system. The colonial hierarchy persists with its apex in the Capital city. Government servants are separated from other citizens in access to healthcare. Finally, health has low budget priority. However, there is good reason for optimism. A remarkable consensus has emerged between health professionals and government experts on the shape of a future health system for Malaysia. This is a considerable achievement, in contrasts to the bitter divisions that have characterised changes in other countries. There is still a long road ahead, so it is most important that the leaders of the Malaysian community make clear their preferences and priorities. The Ministry of Health speaks of a 'transformation' of the health system, and advises the medical profession to prepare for radical changes in their behaviour, and in the delivery and funding of healthcare. Four strands of change can be discerned. One, all the professions of health will have to provide evidence of competency, and must learn to monitor the quality of service they provide. Second, the great divide between public and private sector will end, and we have to find ways to integrate our services. Third, a Health Financing Authority may be established, providing hope to all Malaysians that their basic health needs will be met. As citizens, we have the duty to ask that there will be no 'privatisation' of the Health Financing Authority, or of the health facilities of the Ministry of Health. There is a fourth change, arising from our entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Foreign investors will demand access to Malaysian markets, under a so-called 'Globalisation'. All professions will be affected. More serious is the danger of commercialised health care that will damage the health of the less well-off in our country, and raise the cost of health for all of us. Health and education are most important concerns for all of us, yet it strange that as citizens we have contributed so little to shaping the sort of health system that we want for our families and for ourselves. I hope that this meeting is a new beginning.
Matched MeSH terms: Health Services*; Primary Health Care*
Republished in: Teng CL, Khoo EM, Ng CJ (editors). Family Medicine, Healthcare and Society: Essays by Dr M K Rajakumar, Second Edition. Kuala Lumpur: Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia, 2019: 11-15
Chater B, Couper I, McLeod J, Naidoo N, Rajakumar MK, Reid S, et al.
ISBN: 0-7326-0959-3
Citation: Chater B, Couper I, McLeod J, Naidoo N, Rajakumar MK, Reid S, Rosenblatt R, Rourke J, Strasser R, Wainer J. WONCA Policy on Rural Practice and Rural Health. Traralgon, Victoria, Australia: Monash University School of Rural Health; World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA), 2001
This presidential address delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Malaya Branch of the British Medical Association deals with the history of the impact of western medicine on Malaya. In the early years curative medicine monopolized attention. A Port Quarantine Service was established in 1900 but serious attention to preventive medicine had to wait till 1911 When the Health Service of the then Federated Malay States was founded. Rubber had brought amazing prosperity and disease prevention yielded increased dividends. The address provides much interesting information about Malaya, its peoples and their diseases, and the efforts made by research workers and health departments to control disease prevalence during the last 28 years: this does not lend itself to summary. For the future, outstanding tasks include the application of recently acquired knowledge and techniques to the control of malaria; an allout attack on tuberculosis; much more attention to nutrition and deficiency diseases, and an orientation of the work of the Health Services towards social medicine. Norman White.
Citation: Abdullah MY. Penjagaan Kesihatan Primer di Malaysia. Cabaran, Prospek dan Implikasi dalam latihan dan Penyelidikan Perubatan serta Sains Kesihatan di Universiti Putra Malaysia. Serdang: Penerbitan Universiti Putra Malaya; 2008