Abstract
Introduction: The devastated worldwide SARS-CoV2 infection from 2020 to 2021 has greatly impacted the population across ethnic groups in Malaysia, not to spare the indigenous group. Orang Asli (OA) is the main indigenous population in Malaysian Peninsular, and Batang Padang has the highest number of OA per district in the country. This study aims to describe sociodemographic factors which might have influenced the outbreak and patient management during the critical COVID-19 outbreak period and evaluate factors that might have contributed to the outcome of COVID-19 infections among OA in Batang Padang district.
Methods: The existing primary data of COVID-19 infection among OA from Batang Padang district between 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 was explored and analyzed retrospectively using IBM SPSS v23 for both descriptive and exploratory, subsequently reviewed collectively.
Results: COVID-19 among OA encountered 25% of the total 11,798 all-COVID-19 cases, with higher case fatality rate (CFR) within the OA population (1.9%) compared to all-ethnicities COVID-19 CFR within the Batang Padang district (1.2%) and national rate (0.9%). High COVID-19 mortality was following the delta-variant of SARS-CoV2 predominant infection with the first COVID-19 case among OA in Perak state resulted in mortality was from Batang Padang district. Brought-in-death COVID19 cases was higher for OA (10.3%) compared to COVID-19 deaths of other ethnicities in Batang Padang (7.5%). While around one-third (35.4%) adult patients of other ethnicities aged between 18 to 59 years died of COVID19, however the mortality involving OA adult patients was observed to be almost half (48.1%) of COVID-19 deaths in OA population. One factor identified as substantial evidence was the locations of OA settlements which mostly far from existing healthcare facilities, hence the outbreak management had included initiatives to reach out and isolate the affected individuals using population approach rather than individual care. Discussion: The outcomes of COVID-19 infections among OA populations in Batang Padang district were contributed mainly by challenges in access for urgent case intervention following confirmed diagnosis during the critical outbreak. Even though early intervention using population-specific approach was initiated with multi-agencies and public-private partnership collaborations to isolate and treat them in a dedicated low-risk COVID-19 center, however prompt outbreak management for OA population in the case of large-scale disease outbreak still need to be re-visited. As many lessons learnt from this mass outbreak, a better infectious disease outbreak preparedness plan specific for OA population in Batang Padang district could be prepared in the future.
Links
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-30.pdf
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed1909[...]
BibTeX (Download)
@proceedings{APCPH2022-P-30,
title = {COVID-19 Infection Among Orang Asli: The Urgency of Individual Patients Versus Population-Specific Management in Batang Padang District, Perak, Malaysia},
author = {Nadrah Arfizah Arifin and Ahmad Akmal Ahmad Nizam and Nor Akmal Mohamad Salleh and Norhaslinda Abdul Malek and Zawawi Din and Zainal Abidin Habiburrahman and Raja Mohd Azim Raja Harun},
url = {https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-30.pdf
https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed19095a89ed/APCPH2022-P-30-80695ad1f615726161a864b0adad3297.pdf},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-02},
urldate = {2022-08-02},
issue = {7},
abstract = {Introduction: The devastated worldwide SARS-CoV2 infection from 2020 to 2021 has greatly impacted the population across ethnic groups in Malaysia, not to spare the indigenous group. Orang Asli (OA) is the main indigenous population in Malaysian Peninsular, and Batang Padang has the highest number of OA per district in the country. This study aims to describe sociodemographic factors which might have influenced the outbreak and patient management during the critical COVID-19 outbreak period and evaluate factors that might have contributed to the outcome of COVID-19 infections among OA in Batang Padang district.
Methods: The existing primary data of COVID-19 infection among OA from Batang Padang district between 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 was explored and analyzed retrospectively using IBM SPSS v23 for both descriptive and exploratory, subsequently reviewed collectively.
Results: COVID-19 among OA encountered 25% of the total 11,798 all-COVID-19 cases, with higher case fatality rate (CFR) within the OA population (1.9%) compared to all-ethnicities COVID-19 CFR within the Batang Padang district (1.2%) and national rate (0.9%). High COVID-19 mortality was following the delta-variant of SARS-CoV2 predominant infection with the first COVID-19 case among OA in Perak state resulted in mortality was from Batang Padang district. Brought-in-death COVID19 cases was higher for OA (10.3%) compared to COVID-19 deaths of other ethnicities in Batang Padang (7.5%). While around one-third (35.4%) adult patients of other ethnicities aged between 18 to 59 years died of COVID19, however the mortality involving OA adult patients was observed to be almost half (48.1%) of COVID-19 deaths in OA population. One factor identified as substantial evidence was the locations of OA settlements which mostly far from existing healthcare facilities, hence the outbreak management had included initiatives to reach out and isolate the affected individuals using population approach rather than individual care. Discussion: The outcomes of COVID-19 infections among OA populations in Batang Padang district were contributed mainly by challenges in access for urgent case intervention following confirmed diagnosis during the critical outbreak. Even though early intervention using population-specific approach was initiated with multi-agencies and public-private partnership collaborations to isolate and treat them in a dedicated low-risk COVID-19 center, however prompt outbreak management for OA population in the case of large-scale disease outbreak still need to be re-visited. As many lessons learnt from this mass outbreak, a better infectious disease outbreak preparedness plan specific for OA population in Batang Padang district could be prepared in the future.},
howpublished = {published online at https://apcph.cphm.my},
note = {Type: POSTER PRESENTATION; Organisation: Batang Padang District Health Office, Tapah, Perak, Malaysia},
keywords = {Covid-19, indigenous population, outbreak management, population-specific control measures, Semai-Orang Asli},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}