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Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society

Problem: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic adversely affected the preparation of Malaysia's National Health and Morbidity Survey for 2020 because conducting it would expose data collectors and participants to an increased risk of infection. Context: The survey is nationally...

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Main Authors: Chong, Zhuo Lin, Lodz, Noor Aliza, Abdul Mutalip, Mohd Hatta, Lim, Yin Cheng, Mahjom, Maznieda, Ahmad, Noor Ani
Format: Article
Published: World Health Organization 2021
Subjects:
HD Industries. Land use. Labor
RA Public aspects of medicine
RC Internal medicine
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/35023/
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spelling my.um.eprints.350232022-08-29T02:11:00Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/35023/ Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society Chong, Zhuo Lin Lodz, Noor Aliza Abdul Mutalip, Mohd Hatta Lim, Yin Cheng Mahjom, Maznieda Ahmad, Noor Ani HD Industries. Land use. Labor RA Public aspects of medicine RC Internal medicine Problem: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic adversely affected the preparation of Malaysia's National Health and Morbidity Survey for 2020 because conducting it would expose data collectors and participants to an increased risk of infection. Context: The survey is nationally representative and community based and is conducted by the Institute for Public Health, part of the National Institutes of Health, to generate health-related evidence and to support the Malaysian Ministry of Health in policymaking. Its planned scope for 2020 was the seroprevalence of communicable diseases such as hepatitis B and C. Action: Additional components were added to the survey to increase its usefulness, including COVID-19 seroprevalence and facial anthropometric studies to ensure respirator fit. The survey's scale was reduced, and data collection was changed from including only face-to-face interviews to mainly self-administered and telephone interviews. The transmission risk to participants was reduced by screening data collectors before the survey and fortnightly thereafter, using standard droplet and contact precautions, ensuring proper training and monitoring of data collectors, and implementing other administrative infection prevention measures. Outcome: Data were collected from 7 August to 11 October 2020, with 5957 participants recruited. Only 4 out of 12 components of the survey were conducted via face-to-face interview. No COVID-19 cases were reported among data collectors and participants. All participants were given their hepatitis and COVID-19 laboratory test results; 73 participants with hepatitis B and 14 with hepatitis C who had been previously undiagnosed were referred for further case management. Discussion: Preparing and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey during the COVID-19 pandemic required careful consideration of the risks and benefits, multiple infection prevention measures, strong leadership and strong stakeholder support to ensure there were no adverse events. World Health Organization 2021-07 Article PeerReviewed Chong, Zhuo Lin and Lodz, Noor Aliza and Abdul Mutalip, Mohd Hatta and Lim, Yin Cheng and Mahjom, Maznieda and Ahmad, Noor Ani (2021) Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society. Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal, 12 (3). ISSN 2094-7321, DOI https://doi.org/10.5365/wpsar.2021.12.3.842 <https://doi.org/10.5365/wpsar.2021.12.3.842>. 10.5365/wpsar.2021.12.3.842
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic HD Industries. Land use. Labor
RA Public aspects of medicine
RC Internal medicine
spellingShingle HD Industries. Land use. Labor
RA Public aspects of medicine
RC Internal medicine
Chong, Zhuo Lin
Lodz, Noor Aliza
Abdul Mutalip, Mohd Hatta
Lim, Yin Cheng
Mahjom, Maznieda
Ahmad, Noor Ani
Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society
description Problem: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic adversely affected the preparation of Malaysia's National Health and Morbidity Survey for 2020 because conducting it would expose data collectors and participants to an increased risk of infection. Context: The survey is nationally representative and community based and is conducted by the Institute for Public Health, part of the National Institutes of Health, to generate health-related evidence and to support the Malaysian Ministry of Health in policymaking. Its planned scope for 2020 was the seroprevalence of communicable diseases such as hepatitis B and C. Action: Additional components were added to the survey to increase its usefulness, including COVID-19 seroprevalence and facial anthropometric studies to ensure respirator fit. The survey's scale was reduced, and data collection was changed from including only face-to-face interviews to mainly self-administered and telephone interviews. The transmission risk to participants was reduced by screening data collectors before the survey and fortnightly thereafter, using standard droplet and contact precautions, ensuring proper training and monitoring of data collectors, and implementing other administrative infection prevention measures. Outcome: Data were collected from 7 August to 11 October 2020, with 5957 participants recruited. Only 4 out of 12 components of the survey were conducted via face-to-face interview. No COVID-19 cases were reported among data collectors and participants. All participants were given their hepatitis and COVID-19 laboratory test results; 73 participants with hepatitis B and 14 with hepatitis C who had been previously undiagnosed were referred for further case management. Discussion: Preparing and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey during the COVID-19 pandemic required careful consideration of the risks and benefits, multiple infection prevention measures, strong leadership and strong stakeholder support to ensure there were no adverse events.
format Article
author Chong, Zhuo Lin
Lodz, Noor Aliza
Abdul Mutalip, Mohd Hatta
Lim, Yin Cheng
Mahjom, Maznieda
Ahmad, Noor Ani
author_facet Chong, Zhuo Lin
Lodz, Noor Aliza
Abdul Mutalip, Mohd Hatta
Lim, Yin Cheng
Mahjom, Maznieda
Ahmad, Noor Ani
author_sort Chong, Zhuo Lin
title Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society
title_short Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society
title_full Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society
title_fullStr Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society
title_full_unstemmed Preparing for and conducting the National Health and Morbidity Survey in Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing risks and benefits to participants and society
title_sort preparing for and conducting the national health and morbidity survey in malaysia amid the covid-19 pandemic: balancing risks and benefits to participants and society
publisher World Health Organization
publishDate 2021
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/35023/
_version_ 1744649203034882048
score 13.211869

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