Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov 5;43(1):179.
doi: 10.1186/s41043-024-00677-2.

Functional difficulty among children in Malaysia - findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019

Norhafizah Sahril  1 , Ying Ying Chan  2 , Noor Ani Ahmad  2 , Mohamad Aznuddin Abd Razak  2 , Muhammad Solihin Rezali  2 , Nor'Ain Ab Wahab  2 , Mohd Shaiful Azlan Kassim  2 , Norsyamlina Che Abdul Rahim  3
Affiliations

Functional difficulty among children in Malaysia - findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019

Norhafizah Sahril et al. J Health Popul Nutr. .

Abstract

Introduction: Data on child functioning and disability are important for public policy development which aimed at reducing child disability prevalence and strengthening the provision of appropriate and timely health care services. This study reports the prevalence of functional difficulty in Malaysian children aged 2-17 years and its associated sociodemographic factors and epilepsy.

Methods: Data on children aged 2-17 years (n = 4576) were generated from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019, a population-based cross-sectional survey. Functional difficulty in children was assessed using the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)/Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) Child Functioning Module (CFM). The questionnaires were administered to the parents or guardians of the children via face-to-face interviews. Functional difficulty, defined as having difficulty in at least one domain, was examined for its prevalence and associations with sociodemographic variables and the epilepsy variable in children using descriptive analysis and multiple logistic regression.

Results: The overall prevalence of functional difficulty among children aged 2-17 years was 4.7%. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that older children, children from households whose heads of household had a lower education level and children who have epilepsy were significantly more likely to experience functional difficulty (p < 0.05). Children of Chinese ethnicity were less likely to experience functional difficulty compared to children of Malay ethnicity.

Conclusions: This study provides baseline findings on the prevalence of functional difficulty among children in Malaysia using nationally representative data. Although the prevalence was relatively low, the information is important for the planning of strategies to improve the development and well-being of children in Malaysia and for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Keywords: Child functioning; Functional difficulty; Malaysia; National Health and Morbidity Survey; Prevalence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. World Health Organization. World report on disability 2011. World Health Organization; 2011.
    1. World Health Organization. International Classification of Functioning, disability, and Health: Children & Youth Version. ICF-CY. World Health Organization; 2007.
    1. Aron LY. Meeting the needs of children with disabilities. The Urban Insitute; 2007.
    1. Kuper H, Monteath-van Dok A, Wing K, Danquah L, Evans J, Zuurmond M, Gallinetti J. The impact of disability on the lives of children; cross-sectional data including 8,900 children with disabilities and 898,834 children without disabilities across 30 countries. PLoS ONE. 2014;9(9):e107300. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cf OD. Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development. New York, NY, USA: United Nations; 2015.