KAMPAR, July 16 — The Health Ministry (MOH) is conducting a survey on the health of the Orang Asli, involving 21,000 respondents from July 13 to September 13.
Its minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar said the Orang Asli Health Survey) (OAHS), the first ever to be conducted, involved 4,700 households in 71 selected Orang Asli villages in eight states, namely Perak, Pahang, Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.
He said the survey was being conducted with the cooperation of the Institute of Public Health (IKU) and the Orang Asli Development Department (JAKOA).
“OAHS is carried out to obtain basic health data, as well as a comprehensive burden of disease of the Orang Asli community, such as stunted growth among the children, infectious and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol and hypertension,” he said.
According to Khairy, the Institute of Public Health had conducted the National Health and Morbidity Survey in 2019, but there was no details on the health problems among the Orang Asli community.
He told reporters this after launching the OAHS at the Sahom Community Hall today.
Also present were MoH secretary-general Datuk Harjeet Singh and deputy director-general (Research & Technical Support) Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan.
A total of 15 teams had been set up to conduct the survey which involved interview, health screening and examination of children’s immunisation records.
Health check -ups include anthropometric measurements by age group, blood pressure taking, blood samples to measure sugar, cholesterol and hemoglobin levels, hair and nail sampling for all ages at 14 villages selected for inspection of exposure to metals heavy.
— Bernama
