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Health Seeking Behaviour towards Communicable Diseases among Foreign Workers in Industrial Agriculture Sectors of Selected Districts in Perak, Malaysia
Figure 23. Availability of health care services by nationality and sector
Figure 24. Accessibility to health care services by nationality and sector
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Health Seeking Behaviour towards Communicable Diseases among Foreign Workers in Industrial Agriculture Sectors of Selected Districts in Perak, Malaysia
Figure 25. Distance to health service less than 5 km by nationality and sector
Figure 26. Distance to health service more than 20 km by nationality and sector
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Health Seeking Behaviour towards Communicable Diseases among Foreign Workers in Industrial Agriculture Sectors of Selected Districts in Perak, Malaysia
Figure 27. Usage of own transport by nationality and sector
Figure 28. Usage of public transport by nationality and sector
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Health Seeking Behaviour towards Communicable Diseases among Foreign Workers in Industrial Agriculture Sectors of Selected Districts in Perak, Malaysia
transport to access to health service, followed by 21.7 who used their own transportation, and 6.6 who took public transport. Interestingly, majority
of Thai workers 67.5 used their own transport to access to health service, as compared to other nationalities used companyemployer’s transport
Figure 27, 28 and 29.
5.0 DISCUSSION
5.1 Statement of principle findings
In this study, we observed that majority of the foreign workers seek treatment when they experienced serious illness 97.1 and mild illness 82.3. There was a
significant difference in health seeking behaviour by employment sector. Foreign workers in the industrial sector 91 were more likely to seek treatment for mild
illness than those in the agriculture sector 74.
In terms of nationality, Vietnamese, Nepalese, and Bangladeshi were more likely to seek care than Indonesian and Thai workers. This is possibly due to the fact that
Vietnamese and Nepalese worked solely in the industrial sector. For the Bangladeshi workers in both sectors, their health seeking behaviour was better when compared
to workers of other nationalities.
Figure 29. Usage of companyemployer’s transport by nationality and sector
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Health Seeking Behaviour towards Communicable Diseases among Foreign Workers in Industrial Agriculture Sectors of Selected Districts in Perak, Malaysia
Foreign workers in the industrial sector were able to access health care facilities within 5 km 93.7 of their residence as they are served by panel doctors provided by their
employers. On the other hand, majority of the workers in the agriculture sector need to travel for more than 20 km 82.5 to the nearest health care facility and were
more likely to use government facilities. In general, foreign workers in the industrial sector preferred private health care facilities while those in the agriculture sector
preferred government health care facilities. There was no significant difference in the health seeking behaviour between legal 84 and illegal 70 foreign workers
for mild or serious illness.
5.2 Strengths weaknesses of the study
There were several limitations in this study. Our study focused on the industrial and agriculture sectors for convenience in getting access to the foreign workers. Hence,
results obtained from this study cannot be generalised to other work sectors. In addition, no data was collected on foreign workers who declined to participate
in the study. They comprised mainly those in the industrial sector in Kinta district. Important information and implications could have been neglected due to this
factor. Another limitation was the small number of reported illegal foreign workers in this study. The legal status of foreign workers who participated in this study could
not be independently ascertained because to ensure compliance, immigration documents were not inspected.
Despite the above limitations, this is this first study that assessed the health seeking behaviour of a large number of foreign workers. Findings from this study can be
used to develop strategies for health systems in order to respond to the perspectives and needs of foreign workers in the country.
5.3 Comparison with other studies
Currently, there are very limited studies regarding the health seeking behaviour among foreign workers in Asia. To date, no such studies have been done in Malaysia.
Assessment of health seeking behaviour in this study was mainly based on the Health Care Utilization Model, Kroeger’s Model, and “four As” model.
5.4 Meaning of study implication for policy makers
Although findings of this study show that foreign workers do not seem to have problems in seeking health care, access to care is a problem in the agriculture sector
which needs to be addressed. The private health sector can play an important role in supporting the health care needs of foreign workers.
