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PETALING JAYA: Although Malaysians live longer, there have been notable health inequalities across states, genders and ethnicities, with health problems more prevalent among low-income people.
The president of the Khazanah Research Institute (KRI), Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop (file photo below), said that the latest report from the expert group shows that a person’s health status is closely related to socioeconomic status, where low-income people are more likely to live shorter lives and have worse health outcomes compared to higher-income people.
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“For example, in Malaysia, the prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure was highest among the bottom 20% (B20) of the population and much lower among the top 20%,” he said, adding that this is a commonly observed phenomenon. in the world.
Nor did Mohamed speak yesterday at the launch of KRI’s report on Social Inequalities and Health in Malaysia: The State of Households 2020, Part III.
According to KRI, mortality indicators were the worst for the bottom quintile or the B20.
“The risk of dying young was higher in disadvantaged districts with years of potential life lost (YLLP), the infant mortality rate and the values of the under-five mortality rate for the bottom quintile were almost double those of the quintile higher.
“Also, the number of actual deaths was higher than expected in the bottom quintile, as indicated by the standardized mortality rate (SMR),” he said.
For context, PYLL refers to the average age a person was expected to live at the age of death minus the age at which they died. Meanwhile, SMR is the ratio between the actual number of deaths and the expected number of deaths.
KRI also said there appeared to be significant variation in life expectancy between genders, ethnicities and states.
“For example, a male newborn in Sarawak or Kuala Lumpur in 2020 is expected to live to 74 years, while a male newborn in Perlis, Terengganu or Kelantan is only expected to live to 69 years, or a gap of five years.
“Similarly, a newborn in Kuala Lumpur is expected to live to 79 years, while a newborn in Terengganu or Perlis is only expected to live to 75 years, or a gap of four years,” he said.
When looked at across ethnicities, Chinese men and women are living longer at 75.4 years and 80.5 years respectively than their Bumiputra and Indian counterparts in 2020.
In perspective, the life expectancy of bumiputra men and women is 71.3 years and 76.3 years, while Indian men and women live to 68.4 years and 76.2 years on average, respectively.
Citing data from the Department of Statistics, the KRI report noted that Malaysians’ overall life expectancy has increased by more than 10 years since 1970, although growth has largely stalled in the last decade.
“In 2020, a male and female newborn can expect to live to the age of 72.6 and 77.6 years, respectively, on average.
“By comparison, a boy and girl born 50 years earlier in 1970 on average would only live to the age of 61.6 and 65.6, respectively.
“The increase in life expectancy is in line with the decrease in mortality observed in recent decades, including infant and maternal mortality,” he said.
However, KRI cautioned that the longer life expectancy does not necessarily mean that Malaysians live healthier.
Since 1990, Malaysia has recorded marginal improvements in healthy life expectancy, but these improvements were not great enough to reduce the number of years in poor health.
In fact, the number of years in poor health increased slightly from 9.1 years in 1990 to 9.5 years in 2019.
“Although a baby born in 2019 can expect to live up to 75 years, 9.5 years of those years would be spent in poor health,” KRI said.
The expert group noted that the estimated 9.5 years of poor health in Malaysia, represented by the difference between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, is low compared to other countries.
“This is the result of our shorter life expectancy, rather than having a longer healthy life expectancy.
“Therefore, as we strive for greater longevity, we must ensure that the additional years gained are in good health,” he added.
The report also showed that Malaysia’s healthy life expectancy in 2019 stood at 65.5 years compared to Thailand (68 years), South Korea (72 years), Japan (73.3 years) and Singapore (73, 9 years).
However, it should be noted that Malaysia’s healthy life expectancy was above the world average of 63.5 years.
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