Saidatul Buang and colleagues report on collaborative efforts to introduce HPV vaccination in Malaysia and increase coverage Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women globally.1 Human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 collectively cause 70% of cervical cancers and precancerous cervical lesions.1 The UN joint global programme on cervical cancer prevention and control includes HPV immunisation for girls as one of its three priorities at country level, together with screening and treatment for cervical pre-cancer, and diagnosis and treatment of invasive cervical cancer.2 In Malaysia, the age standardised cervical cancer rate is 7.8 per 100 000 females, making it the third most common cancer in women, with 4352 new cases reported for 2007-11.3 Malaysia’s HPV immunisation programme was introduced in 2010, within a healthcare system that has a credible track record (box 1, table 1). We present a case study of this programme and explore the role of multisectoral collaboration in achieving near universal immunisation of an estimated annual cohort of 250 000 13 year old girls. Box 1 ### Key facts about Malaysia #### Demographics4 #### Health7RETURN TO TEXT
Saidatul Norbaya Buang, Safurah Jaafar, Indra Pathmanathan et al.
This study determined 1) why the Jambi Province Early Childhood Education and Community Education have not been able to improve the quality of Early Childhood Education; 2) how is the management of the Jambi Province Early Childhood Education and Community Education Partnership in improving the quality of Early Childhood Education; 3) how is the quality improvement by Jambi Province Early Childhood Education and Community Education in Jambi Province; 4) how to manage Jambi Province Early Childhood Education and Community Education to improve the quality of Early Childhood Education. This research used descriptive qualitative method, with a phenomenological-naturalistic approach. Sampling was taken by purposive sampling. The results showed that Jambi Province Early Childhood Education and Community Education Jambi Province have implemented management to improve the quality of Early Childhood Education in Jambi by implementing quality management starting from planning, organizing, implementing and monitoring which refers to TQM in Education, but in the process and the results were not optimal and not yet able to provide consumer’s satisfaction.
BACKGROUND: Asia is a region that is rapidly urbanising. While overall urban health is above rural health standards, there are also pockets of deep health and social disadvantage within urban slum and peri-urban areas that represent increased public health risk. With a focus on vaccine preventable disease and immunisation coverage, this commentary describes and analyses strengths and weaknesses of existing urban health and immunisation strategy, with a view to recommending strategic directions for improving access to immunisation and related maternal and child health services in urban areas across the region. The themes discussed in this commentary are based on the findings of country case studies published by the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) on the topic of immunisation and related health services for the urban poor in Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam. MAIN BODY: Although overall urban coverage is higher than rural coverage in selected countries of Asia, there are also wide disparities in coverage between socio economic groups within urban areas. Consistent with these coverage gaps, there is emerging evidence of outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases in urban areas. In response to this elevated public health risk, there have been some promising innovations in operational strategy in urban settings, although most of these initiatives are project related and externally funded. Critical issues for attention for urban health services access include reaching consensus on accountability for management and resourcing of the strategy, and inclusion of an urban poor approach within the planning and budgeting procedures of Ministries of Health and local governments. Advancement of local partnership and community engagement strategies to inform operational approaches for socially marginalised populations are also urgently required. Such developments will be reliant on development of municipal models of primary health care that have clear delegations of authority, adequate resources and institutional capabilities to implement. CONCLUSIONS: The development of urban health systems and immunisation strategy is required regionally and nationally, to respond to rapid demographic change, social transition, and increased epidemiological risk.
John Grundy, Xiaojun Wang, Kunihiko Chris Hirabayashi et al.
The teachings of Islam, the Qur'an has given guidance about how to prepare generation or a child as a trustee, to make him a human being who can carry out of Islamic law well. The article disscused of the educational process and the developmental needs of early childhood in islamic perspective. The researchers used a qualitative method by reviewing some of the previous findings with a coding system and in-depth analysis of each data. The collecting data used documentation, from online publication research. The researchers collected the data on online search publications, for instance Google Scholar, Science Direct, et all, specifically on articles published between 2010 and 2021. The result showed that several methods of Islamic education that be applied to educational activities for early childhood, for instance method by example, education by practice and practice, educating through games, songs, and stories, educating with targhib and tarhib, praise and flattery, instilling good habits.
Aim: To determine the immunisation status of children up to 15 years of age and factors associated with incomplete immunisation. Materials and Methods:Three hundred seventy-seven children in the age group 1 month to 15 years, attending regular outpatient department (OPD) were screened for their immunization status by direct questionnaire method and checking the immunization medical records.Children were divided based on their age in to 3 groups viz.<1 yr, 1 to 5 yrs, >5 yrs.Information regarding their residence, education status of their parents, community, various vaccines, and whether immunization status was complete, or incomplete was recorded.Results: The mean age of children ranged from 3.68±3.47years.Twentythree percent of the infants were incompletely immunised (p=0.006).Twenty seven percent of Muslims and 28% of Buddhists were incompletely immunised (P=0.003).Illiteracy in father and mother is associated with incomplete immunisation by 34.38% (P=0.0004) and 31.15%(P<0.001),respectively.Main reason for incomplete immunisation was non-availability of vaccine, as seen in 57.7% of cases.Other reasons include immunisation facility not available locally (32.7%), parents refusing immunisation for their children (30.8%), child unwell (5.8%), parent out of town (3.8%).We did not find any gender bias in our study.Also, in our study, no vaccine in universal immunization programme (UIP) had lower coverage as compared to other vaccines.Conclusion: Immunization status in children in India needs to be improved.Religious beliefs, literacy rates in parents seem to affect the immunization completion in the child.
In 1978, India launched the "Expanded Programme on Immunisation" (EPI) to minimise the prevalence of "Vaccine-Preventable Diseases" (VPDs). Despite years of health and medical progress, children in India continue to suffer from VPDs, and significant disparities in immunisation coverage may be seen among regions, states, socioeconomic groups, and other factors. Barak Valley's socioeconomic and environmental characteristics reveal an overall underdevelopment pattern. Furthermore, in the valley, healthcare services such as comprehensive immunisation institutional delivery are underutilised, resulting in poor immunisation coverage. Despite this evidence, there have been limited studies to identify the factors that influence child immunisation. In this context, this article is a modest attempt to identify and quantify the inequality in socio-economic factors in explaining inequality in Child immunisation in rural Barak Valley. A multistage stratified random sampling was used to collect information on immunisation and related variables by using a pre-tested questionnaire from the universe of children aged between 12-23 months of rural Barak Valley. And, binary logistic regression model has been used to analyse the data and draw inferences. The immunisation coverage is the Barak Valley region is very poor. The highest immunisation coverage has been observed for the BCG vaccine, around 90%. And with 64% coverage, vaccination against measles stands at the bottom of the list. The extent of full immunisation in the valley is not satisfactory at all. Around 54% of children aged 12-23 months have received all the WHO recommended vaccines, implying half of the eligible children are left out. The study identifies religion, a strong cultural affiliation that significantly influences the immunisation coverage of the child. Furthermore, the gender of the child, unequal access to ante-natal care, and birth order of the child are the prime factors associated with inequality in child immunisation in the region.
Gamification has emerged as a transformative pedagogical strategy in early childhood education, fostering cognitive and social skill development through interactive and reward-based learning mechanisms. This study investigates the impact of gamification on kindergarten students' cognitive and social skills using a mixed-method experimental design involving 150 children (ages 4–6). Participants were divided into an experimental group (n=75) exposed to a gamified learning environment and a control group (n=75) following traditional instructional methods. The study employed pre-test and post-test assessments alongside Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) for quantitative analysis, while qualitative insights were obtained through classroom observations and teacher interviews. Findings reveal that problem-solving skills significantly influence attention (β = 1.00, p < 0.001), whereas memory skills have no statistically significant effect (β ≈ 0, p = 0.50) . Post-test results indicated that students in the gamified group showed substantial improvements in problem-solving (Pre: 60.1 → Post: 82.3, p < 0.001) and attention span (Pre: 55.4 → Post: 79.8, p < 0.001) compared to the control group**. Additionally, 88% of teachers reported enhanced student motivation, and 95% of children found gamified learning more engaging than conventional approaches. These results underscore gamification's efficacy in enhancing problem-solving skills, attention, and motivation among young learners. The findings highlight the importance of integrating adaptive gamification frameworks into early education curricula to optimize learning experiences. This study contributes to the growing body of research on digital pedagogical strategies and offers valuable insights for educators and policymakers seeking to implement evidence-based gamification interventions in early childhood education.
BACKGROUND: Child health and gender inequalities are significant global public health issues that demand immediate action, particularly in South and Southeast Asian (SSEA) countries where both challenges are prevalent. This study examines the association between women's empowerment and child vaccination coverage in 11 SSEA low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: Using population-level cross-sectional data from Demographic and Health Surveys across 11 SSEA countries, we developed an Individual-Level Women's Empowerment Index (ILWEI) based on three dimensions of women's empowerment: decision-making autonomy, attitude towards intimate partner violence and social independence. A three-stage mixed-effect individual participant data meta-analysis was employed to assess the association between ILWEI and childhood immunisation coverage. RESULTS: In India, 81.28% of women reported participation in three to four decision-making areas, followed by 62.07% in Bangladesh. Full immunisation coverage ranged from 32.43% in Afghanistan to 63.30% in Bangladesh. The association between women's empowerment and vaccination coverage varied across South and Southeast Asia, with the strongest positive associations observed in Pakistan. However, mixed or negative associations were found in countries such as India and Timor-Leste. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that in several SSEA countries, including Pakistan, Cambodia, the Philippines and Afghanistan, higher levels of individual women's empowerment are positively associated with an increased likelihood of childhood immunisation coverage. However, in countries such as India, Myanmar and Timor-Leste, higher women's empowerment was associated with lower odds of childhood immunisation, highlighting potential contextual or systemic barriers that may hinder vaccination uptake. This underscores the critical role of women's empowerment in enhancing childhood vaccination intake while also emphasising the need for targeted interventions to address country-specific challenges. Coordinated, multifaceted strategies are essential to empower women and thereby support the immunisation of children across regions.
Abdul Ghani Khatir, N.M. Mujeeb Rahman, Tolulope Ariyo et al.
Background: Immunisation services does not reach over one third of urban poor children. There is clear cut difference of children completely immunised in the low as compared to high standard of living index in urban areas. This difference is more marked in low performing states like Rajasthan and this difference as compared to better performing states like Kerala. Such inter-state differentials indicate the importance of extra focus on low performing states like Rajasthan. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 550 children aged 12-23 months in an urban slum of a district in southern Rajasthan. Along with the immunisation coverage, determinants associated with incomplete immunisation was assessed. The child's immunisation was ascertained using the immunisation cards/Mamta cards or in whom cards not available WHO recall method was used. The Chi-square test was used to find out statistical significance. Results: Of 550 children studied, 417 (75.8%) were fully immunised, 117 (21.3%) were partially immunised and 16 of them were non immunised (2.9%). When the determinants of incomplete immunisation were assessed, all were found statistically significant. Conclusion: The present study concluded that immunisation coverage is lower than that of the target. The factors thought to have influenced immunisation such as religion, family composition, education of mother and gender of child were discovered to be statistically significant.
This article will discuss the beneficial sides of an early childhood education.Early childhood education plays a crucial role in laying the foundation for a child's cognitive, social, and emotional development. Research has shown that children who receive quality early childhood education are more likely to excel academically, exhibit better social skills, and have higher levels of self-regulation. Investing in early childhood education not only benefits individual children but also has long-term societal impacts, such as reducing crime rates, improving overall health outcomes, and narrowing the achievement gap. Prioritizing early childhood education is essential in creating a strong educational foundation for future generations.
