Name : MD IBRAHIM CHOWDHURY

Matric: A19EE0463
Class: UHMT 1012
Sec : 12
Sub : Individual Case Study

HEALTH AWARENESS OF ORANG ASLI

‘Health is the greatest gift, contentment is the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship’
-Gautam Buddha
There is a common and true saying that Health is Wealth. A good health provides us freedom
from all the sickness and diseases. It is a costly and most precious gift of the life and
necessary for living a purposeful life. To have a good health is also benefactor in the
development of a country. The higher the amount of healthy people in a country, the higher
the mental peace of humans will be ensured. Ensuring good health is very necessary for
developed countries as it makes an considerable contribution to economic progress.Many
factors influence health status and a country’s ability to provide quality health services for
indigenous and masses living in the city area. Health for all people, all over the country is an
important part of sustainable development.There are three pillars of health development
accredited by WHO that need to be achieved by formal health organisations-
1. Normative Functions
2. Directing and non-binding functions
3. Research and technical cooperation functions
Despite the importance of health, Malaysia being one of the developed countries in the world
and also having better medical facilities for the city people’s and the foreign patients,but the
disease infection rate among local aboriginal people called ‘Orang Asli’ still very much
higher.In short, they are being neglected.
In perspective of Malaysia, a country that is undoubtedly rich with unique culture and
heritage thanks to our multi-ethnic background. It is the country of people of various races
such as Malay, Indians and Chinese are in majority.There are also people of other ethnics in
minor amount and one of them is Orang Asli. The Orang Asli or also known as the aborigines
are the indigenous minority peoples living in the Peninsular Malaysia. Officially there are 18
Orang Asli groups, categorised under mainly three tribes in the Orang Asli community, with
each carrying distinct and rich culture among them, which are-Semang, Senoi and Proto-
Malay,comprising a population of approximately 185000. The Orang Asli community is
found largely in states like Pahang, Perak, Sabah and Sarawak due to its still undeveloped
jungle.They live away in cave,in the mountains and majority of them are reserved in the land
called Asli Reserve land.They have their very own culture and beliefs from generation to
generation which is very different from the town people.The asli tribes can easily dwell with
the nature. Their way of living is very different from the city masses and absolutely of their
ancestors too. These tribal people are not very rich compared to people of Malaysia. They do
not have any high classified jobs and cannot do businesses as they are not very much
educated. The poverty rate among Orang Asli is 76.9%, In addition to this high rate, the
Statistics Department of Malaysia has classified 35.2% of the population as being "very
poor.’ [wikipedia-orang asli(economy)]. Indigenous people living in remote forest areas
engaged in hunting, farming and fishing. It has also been shown that the aboriginals have
played a significant role in the Malay Peninsula's economic history as collectors and primary
traders as early as the 5th Century A.D. An early 19th century report also tells of semang
tribe providing forest products as tribute to the Malay chiefs of the river basins they resided
in. This is how this people manage their foods and living.
Though this people still manages to live off by doing something and searching foods from
natural resources still they are facing various problems such as education, housing, income,
land occupation and not to mention health problem is one of them. As they are not well-
educated and wise enough to know about modern technologies and medical amenities, they
often affected by various diseases and die of it. Although Malaysia has sustained high levels
of economic growth over the last few decades, the growth has not always included
Malaysia’s rural population, especially the indigenous people. Because of ignorance, the
indigenous people of Malaysia continue to experience damaged health. There appears to be
stagnation of certain aspect of their health status. The report of researchgate demonstrates
that, the indigenous children significantly suffers from underweight (low weight for age) and
stunting (low height for age). There are other diseases worm infestation such as Ascaris,
Trichuris and hookworm infection and other soil-transmitted Helminthiases, which have been
identified as key determinants of malnutrition and poor school performance and attendance
among Malaysian school children.This diseases continue to affect Orang tribe communities
in Malaysia. The commonality of Orang clan can also be afflicted by other kinds of parasites
such as malaria parasites, microsporida parasites and Cryptosporidium parasites. In spite of
the seriousness of these health problems, many elements add to their continued neglect. One
of the reason is improper medical knowledge about the Orang Asli.
According to Baer, there are several logic for this kind of illiteracy. Although "Orang
Asli" is a general phrase to point out the indigenous people describing at least 18 obvious
Custom -linguistic groups, identity/genes is rarely considered as a variable in biomedical
Sector. His report indicates that this is "unfortunate as the various tribes stay in diverse
ecosystems, have diverse adaptable system for dealing with illness.
Thus, primary care doctors who cures indigenous patients, should be on the lookout for its
malnutrition and its consequences including the aforementioned diseases as well as worm and
soil afflicted syndromes. Those patients need to undergo de-worming at regular basis in case
there is propensity to get re-infected. In a country like Malaysia which has a vast economy
rate and number one in terms of providing medical facilities, their neglect oulook and lack of
support to the indigenous tribes is a sorry. In this fastest growing technical world awareness
and effectives to help the tribal people in Malaysia need to be taken as soon as possible. The
government of Malaysia and social healthcare centres can come altogether to solve this
problem. Childrens and womens are the worst sufferer among orang asli peoples. Based on
reports, between 2003 and 2007, infant mortality rate was estimated to be double the national
figure.90% of the orang asli children afflicted with parasite infections. Malnutrition problem
from childhood has persisted over the decades caused serious growth problems. According to
survey by Mona Zaria (1998) and Mohd Faizal (1999) among the tribes found that 27-33%
and 42-55% of the boys and girls respectively to be underweight. Likewise, high percentages
of underweight (45.3%) and stunting (51.6%) were found among Temuan children aged 3-6
years (Zalilah and Tham, 2002). This study also showed that more than half of the children of
both sexes had intakes of energy, calcium and iron that were below two-thirds of the
recommended levels (researchgate.net). Among women chronic energy deficiency is still
prevalent, there are evidences to summarise that overweight and obesity is a rising nutritional
concern in this population. Lim and Chee (1998) reported that 21% of Orang Asli women
were overweight and obese. A recent survey of 149 Orang Asli women from 14 peri-urban
villages found that almost half of the women were overweight (29%) and obese (21%). In
addition, about 14% had at risk waist circumference (> 88 cm) (Wendy, 2004). The high
prevalence of overweight and obesity may further put these Orang Asli women at risk of
many health and nutritional problems (researchgate.net). The government tends to overlook
the importance of them because they are the minority ethnic group in a multi-racial country.
This clearly shows that how neglecting the government of Malaysia and other social
organisations are towards orang asli tribes. This kind of irresponsibility aren’t expected from
the government. They can come together with other ngo’s like GLOBAL PEACE
FOUNDATION and JHEOA to help this community. Social innovations for health works
best when initiatives are created with communities and not just for the particular races. For
programmes to be truly sustainable, they must be integrated into national health systems. The
provision of public health services must be inclusive of and responsive to the needs of the
indigenous people. For this, the gap between bottom up Initiatives and top down policies, a
shift of mentality must take place. If they want to truly ensure that no one gets left behind, it
is important that all health issues that indigenous people are facing should be viewed from
their point of view. ‘HEALTH FOR ALL’ does not mean that solutions are ‘ONE SIZE FITS
ALL’.

It is evident that the Orang Asli has been undermining in the society and always been
subjected to discrimination and unfair treatments despite being the origins in Malaysia. They
are not enjoying the benefits and privileges that were promised while their counter parts,
Malays are enjoying all the benefits given by the government. Orang Asli are afraid their
community might just stay backward rest of their lives if they continue to be shunned away.
Their problems can be overcome if the government look into their needs and wants and help
them build their lives for the better. Various projects like FEDA which was taken to help the
MALAYS, must be granted for them too. So they can live off better socially and
economically.
I can conclude, human health is very important in the continuity of human life on this earth
because health affects all aspects of human mind. Among them having better mental peace
can affect the world of work, help humans create prosperity for themselves, and affect
economic success to the society.
My hope is that Malaysia will become a more cautious improving the quality of medical
systems for the indigenous people and eliminating the discrimination, so that all Malaysian
children’s, women’s especially "Orang Asli" native, are able to get all the amenities that
includes medical help.

REFERENCES:
1. Baer, A. 1999. Health, Disease And Survival. A Biomedical And Genetic Analysis of
the Orang Asli of Malaysia. Center For Orang Asli Concern, Kuala Lumpur.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M_VsSgMikovE85HbkrFELBvnRufeJ5ce/view?usp=drivesdk

2. Geok , sharif (jan,2008), ecology of health and nutrition of orang asli women and
children [tribes and tribals] 8(2), 67-77 pages
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geok_Lin_Khor/publication/228614958_The_Ecology_of_Heal
th_and_Nutrition_of_Orang_AsliIndigenous_People_Women_and_Children_in_Peninsular_Malaysia/l
inks/09e4151391f79cad03000000/The-Ecology-of-Health-and-Nutrition-of-Orang-AsliIndigenous-
People-Women-and-Children-in-Peninsular-Malaysia.pdf?origin=publication_detail

3. Edwin, m [chuen,m.e (2012), education and health awareness among orang asli;study
in perak .Volume 2
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2e8e/954638b14dca5ff6c85461647e4d709985ea.pdf

4. Peter j hotez, PloS(2014)~ aboriginal people and neglected tropical diseases.8(1)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3907312/#__ffn_sectitle

5. Phua, l.k (chea ,j 2012) Malysian journal of public health medicine; The health of
malaysian orang asli people:review of scientific evidence

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.researchgate.net/publication/283093239_The_health_of_Mal
aysia's_Orang_Asli_peoples_A_review_of_the_scientific_evidence_on_nutritional_outcome_parasite
_infestations_and_discussion_on_implications_for_clinical_practice/amp

6 a
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_Asli.
Malaysia: Primary Health Care Key to Intersectoral Action for Health and Equity.
WHO 30 Aug
2007: http://www.who.int/social_determinants/resources/isa_primary_care_mys.pdf