Precisiones sobre los niveles competenciales Evolución con respecto a la evaluación anterior

The Ministry of Health takes the lead role in initiating efforts to coordinate, collaborate, and resolve issues in health and the environment. The District Health Office is responsible for preventive programmes such as communicable disease control, vector control, as well as environmental sanitation. Disease control activities are also undertaken by local authorities with internal health inspectorates and play an important role in the detection and prevention of communicable diseases in urban and semi-urban areas. Concerted efforts of various agencies in health and health related agencies in both the public and private sectors have been obtained in implementing environmental health measures, such as occupational health and safety, and the Healthy City Concept.

Health promotion and disease prevention programmes continue to be accorded high priority. These activities are carried out with better integration and cooperation between the private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). These programmes take into account the increasing affluence of society and its sedentary and stress-filled lifestyles. They emphasise on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, better nutrition, proper immunisation, safe water supply, as well as food quality and safety. Environmental health and sanitation in rural areas have been provided by the Ministry of Health to supplement the coverage of safe piped water supply. Environmental health measures and activities are implemented to support sustainable development and enhance the status and quality of life of the people.

To ensure quality care and cater for the expanding health programmes, continuous training of in-service medical and health personnel is emphasised upon. The relative

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shortage of trained health personnel is a constraint to the health care system. Remedial measures include increasing the intake of medical students in local universities, recruiting foreign doctors and nurses, and the reemployment of retired health personnel. Private institutions are being given permission to run twinning programmes for medical students with established medical facilities/universities overseas as well as nursing colleges. Improved service conditions for doctors and specialists are also being offered by the government.

The healthy lifestyle campaign disseminates information on incidents and prevention of contagious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), tuberculosis, and dengue. Health-related information is available on the Ministry of Health website (www.moh.gov.my) and the Ministry of Education website (www.moe.gov.my). The government established the Environmental Health Research Centre at IMR, and the research capacities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were upgraded. The IMR achieved a major breakthrough with the discovery and commercialisation of Bacillus Thuringiensis, a bacteria which destroys the mosquito larvae. The Public Health Institute, as a lead agency in health system research, collaborates with programme directors and universities to identify research needs in the prevention, control, and management of diseases to serve as resource to its teaching programmes for basic and advanced health courses. Local financial resources allocated for the health sector during the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001– 2005) amounted to RM5,500 million, which was 5.0 per cent of the total development allocation for the period. Funding from external aid agencies will still be required for specific training and research programmes and the purchase/hiring of specialised skills.

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Malaysia continues to rely on the World Health Organisation and other international bodies for the development and improvement of various types of vaccines.

Housing and other social services continue to be a priority of Malaysia’s development programmes aimed at improving the quality of life and contributing toward the formation of a caring society. The preparation of development plans (structure and local plans) has been a continuous effort by the Town and Country Planning Department. To date, structure plans for all 145 local authorities in Peninsular Malaysia have been prepared and 10 of these have been revised. With regard to local plans, 110 have been prepared and 10 more are under preparation. Though these plans differ in details, they have a common objective to ensure that the process of urbanisation occurs in the most systematic manner to have a balance between physical and human development, thus resulting in economic growth and ultimately better quality living environment.

During the period 1996-2000, 800,000 housing units were planned for construction to meet housing needs. However, a total of 859,480 units or 107.4 per cent of the target was completed. The private sector, which targeted to build 570,000 units, has completed 737, 856 units or 129.4 per cent of the target. Distribution wise, 95.3 per cent of houses in the low-cost category were completed, compared with 291.8 per cent in the medium- and high-cost category. In an effort to increase the quality of low-cost houses, new designs with a floor area of 60 square metres incorporating three bedrooms were introduced. Greater emphasis was also given to R&D in the housing sector, especially with regard to production of cheaper and more efficient building materials, better construction techniques, and life-costing estimation of multi-storey housing.

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R&D activities related to production of cheaper and more efficient building materials, better construction techniques, and life-costing estimation of multi-storey housing were undertaken by the universities and the private sector. Under the Eighth Plan, the government established the Malaysian Human Settlement and Urbanisation Research Institute (MAHSURI) to conduct R&D on issues related to human settlement and urbanisation. This includes housing design and technology, especially technical research on alternative building materials as well as industrialised building systems (IBS). In addition, studies are also carried out to formulate a comprehensive policy on housing to ensure sustainable housing development.

Malaysia has experienced phenomenal economic growth in the last two decades. It has undergone a major structural transformation, moving from an agricultural-based to manufacturing-based economy with significant social changes. This rapid development has brought about significant impacts on the natural environment. Since the Independence in 1957, Malaysia has embarked on a progressive path to improve the social and economic standing of the country and its citizenry by establishing steady development and high rates of economic growth combined to significantly reduce poverty and unemployment levels, as well as address other socio-economic imbalances. The force behind these early achievements were laid out under the nation’s comprehensive Outline Perspective Plans, which included detailed Five-year Malaysia Plans and strategic policy initiatives that sought to eradicate poverty, restructure society, sustain growth, and maintain national unity.

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Malaysia enacted two landmark legislative initiatives to protect and maintain the environment. The first deed was the passing of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 that marked the beginning of the government’s commitment to preventing pollution and degradation of natural resources. In order to ensure that environmental planning became part of development projects, the Environmental Impact Assessment was later amended to the EQA to become a valuable tool to safeguard resources and ameliorate the negative consequences of development. The National Development Policy of the Second Outline Perspective Plan (1991-2000) categorically stated that “adequate attention will be given to the protection of the environment and ecology so as to maintain the long term sustainability of the country development”. Also outlined in the First Statement in Malaysia 2020 is that invaluable natural resources are not to be wasted. The Malaysian government through the Department of Environment has formulated its vision, that is, to contribute toward nation building in attaining a better level of health, safety, and quality of life through conservation and preservation efforts, prevention and control of pollution, and protection and promotion of wise use of natural resources toward sustainable development for present and future generations.