Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Trop Biomed. 2023 Mar 1;40(1):65-75. doi: 10.47665/tb.40.1.013.
Poverty, as proven by several studies, is a driving force behind poor health and hygiene practices. This review attempts to outline common communicable and non-communicable diseases that disproportionately affect Malaysia's 2.91 million low-income households. The current study also looks into the government's housing and healthcare programmes for this demographic to improve their health and well-being. The initial examination yielded incredibly little research on this marginalised community, with event reporting typically generalised to the Malaysian community as a whole rather than analysing disease incidences based on household income, which would better reflect povertydriven diseases. As a result, there is an acute need for more accurate information on the epidemiology of diseases among the poor in order to address this public health issue and provide conclusions that can drive policy designs.
贫困是导致健康和卫生习惯不佳的主要原因，这已被多项研究所证实。本综述试图概述马来西亚 291 万低收入家庭中比例失调的常见传染病和非传染病。本研究还调查了政府针对这一人群的住房和医疗保健计划，以改善他们的健康和福祉。初步研究发现，针对这个边缘群体的研究非常少，事件报告通常笼统地指向整个马来西亚社区，而不是根据家庭收入分析疾病发病率，因为后者更能反映贫困导致的疾病。因此，迫切需要更多关于贫困人口疾病流行病学的准确信息，以解决这一公共卫生问题，并提出能够推动政策设计的结论。
