Malaysia Country Profile 2015 Indicators Population (millions) 30.5 Population density (persons/sq km) 92.2 Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births) 6.2 Life expectancy, females (years) 77.4 Life expectancy, males (years) 72.4 GDP per capita (USD) 9,766 Chiu-Wan Ng University of Malaya, Malaysia

Malaysia Challenges Rapid urbanisation Ageing society From 27% of population in 1970 to 74% in 2015 Geographical variations Higher in more developed states Ageing society Proportion of persons aged 65+ years 5.0% in 2010, 8.0% in 2025 and 11.4% in 2040 Differs across ethnic groups Malays 6.8%, Orang Asli 6.3%, Chinese 13.7%, Indians 9.6% (2025 projections) Double burden of disease In 2011, prevalence of hypertension 32.7% and diabetes 15.2% In 2015, incidence of dengue fever 390 per 100,000 population Access to affordable effective health care In 2013, total health expenditures 4.53% of GDP; about half from public purse Public system challenged by limited resources and increasing demand Increasing demand for private care leading to expansion of private sector Malaysia Challenges Chiu-Wan Ng University of Malaya, Malaysia

Malaysia Research Needs Changing national ideologies from welfare to pro-market Tax financed provision of health care making way to privately funded care Impact on access to care and health status needs to be continuously monitored across different sub-populations Provision of primary care in urban areas Explore non-traditional methods to deliver affordable care Provision of effective care Development of metrics to track effective treatment coverage of medical conditions Initially for individual diseases and expand to provide assessment of national performance Provision of care to migrants Sensitive political issue, access to needed care restricted, advocacy needed Changing lifestyles and behaviours Rapid economic development impact different social groups differently Life expectancy gains of Indian males compared to rest of ethnic groups Explore contributing factors including rural-urban migration Public acceptance of dengue prevention activities Vaccine seen as a quick fix, explore methods to increase compliance to source reduction methods Malaysia Research Needs Chiu-Wan Ng University of Malaya, Malaysia