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This systematic review examines the challenges and strategies for sustaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Malaysia, with a focus on the country’s health financing framework. Despite Malaysia’s significant progress in providing affordable public healthcare through a tax-funded system, rising healthcare costs, underfunding, and increasing out-of-pocket (OOP) payments threaten long-term sustainability. Using the PRISMA framework, 22 studies published between 2010 and 2025 were analysed, encompassing policy reviews, systematic reviews, and mixed-method studies. The findings reveal key challenges such as fiscal constraints, demographic shifts, inequities in rural access, and a fragmented public–private sector. Comparative insights from regional models, including Thailand and Singapore, highlight the importance of diversified funding sources, strategic purchasing, and stronger governance. Policy recommendations include broadening revenue streams through sin taxes and social health insurance, enhancing digital health adoption, improving preventive and primary care, and fostering public–private partnerships. The review highlights the urgency for Malaysia to implement progressive, evidence-based reforms to build a healthcare system that is fair, financially protective, and resilient for all. Keywords: healthcare funding, healthcare financing, health finance, Universal Health Coverage, UHC, access to care, private health insurance, social health insurance, Malaysia

The maternal mortality rate (MMR) is defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, and it serves as an important indicator of the quality of healthcare systems and the overall health of women in a given population. There is hybrid system in Malaysia in which the public sector and private sector coexist to provide medical services to the society where that are different structures of expenditure such as public expenditure, private expenditure and OOP expenditure. Each different expenditure plays their role in determining the outcome of interest, MMR. Increase in public expenditure helps to reduce MMR. While there is a consensus that increased public health expenditure is critical to improving maternal health outcomes, its efficacy is contingent upon strategic planning and implementation that addresses the unique health challenges faced by specific populations. An intricate relationship between private expenditure and maternal mortality underscores a pressing need for comprehensive policy approaches that emphasize financial investment in healthcare infrastructure, capacity building, and improved access to care. Higher private spending on maternal healthcare has been associated with decreased maternal deaths in some contexts, suggesting that private healthcare can complement public efforts, particularly in regions with limited public resources. combined strategy that incorporates both public investments and the optimization of private healthcare resources is imperative for advancing maternal health and reducing mortality rates effectively. OOP expenditure is a significant determinant of access to and utilization of maternal health services, with profound implications for maternal mortality rates. Keyword GDP, MMR, OOP, public expenditure

This research aims to study the acceptance of the IJNPulse mobile application among IJN staff using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework. It focuses on understanding the adoption and usability of this novel staff mobile application, exploring staff attitudes and experiences with its use, and identifying key factors that influence their intention to adopt the application. A cross-sectional survey design was employed to collect data from a diverse sample, incorporating a defined research paradigm, specific sampling techniques, and systematic data collection and analysis methods. The findings reveal that performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions positively influence IJN staff’s behavioral intentions and actual use of the IJNPulse application. However, effort expectancy was not found to significantly affect adoption or user behavior. These results provide valuable insights into the factors that shape staff acceptance of mobile health applications in a healthcare setting.

This study investigates the key factors influencing undergraduate students’ intention to purchase medical health insurance (MHI) in Malaysia, a context where health insurance uptake remains modest despite rising healthcare costs and a growing private sector. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Health Belief Model (HBM), and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), the research evaluates how knowledge, social influence, financial literacy, and product attributes shape students’ intentions toward health insurance acquisition. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 109 final-year undergraduate students across six academic schools at a Malaysian university using stratified sampling. The results revealed that students generally hold a moderate to high intention to purchase MHI, particularly in the context of long-term financial planning. However, immediate intent to act remains low. Multiple regression analysis identified knowledge, product attributes, and social influence as significant predictors of intention. Financial literacy also played a critical role in shaping students' perception of health insurance benefits and necessity. Interestingly, neither gender nor academic background significantly influenced insurance intention. These findings suggest a need for targeted education and policy strategies to improve insurance literacy and design student-friendly insurance products. The study contributes to the broader understanding of youth insurance behaviour and offers actionable insights for insurers, universities, and policymakers aiming to boost MHI uptake among young adults.

This study investigates the relationship between key financial metrics and firm value, focusing on profitability, liquidity, and capital structure within the context of healthcare companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. This study aims to address a gap in the literature, where research on the healthcare sector in emerging markets, particularly Malaysia, remains limited. Using a quantitative approach, a firm-level panel data comprising of 160 firm annual observations from 2014 to 2023 were analysed. The study employed fixed effects panel regression models to examine the direct effects of financial metrics indicator on firm value, as well as the interaction effects among them. Firm size and firm age were incorporated as control variables to ensure a comprehensive analysis. The findings reveal that profitability, measured by Return on Equity (ROE), has a significant and positive association with firm value, supporting the premise that strong earnings performance enhances market valuation. Liquidity, proxied by the Current Ratio (CR), exhibits a negative relationship with firm value, suggesting that excess liquidity may reflect inefficient capital allocation or conservative financial management. In contrast, capital structure, represented by the Debt Ratio (DR), does not have a statistically significant effect on firm value, indicating that leverage may be less influential in this context. Notably, the three-way interaction between profitability, liquidity, and capital structure is found to be significant and negative, implying that simultaneous increases in these metrics may result in diminishing returns due to compounded inefficiencies. This study contributes to the financial literature by offering sector-specific evidence from Malaysia’s healthcare industry and underscores the importance of adopting integrated financial strategies. The findings provide valuable insights for corporate managers, investors, and policymakers aiming to enhance firm valuation through informed financial decision-making. Future research should expand to other sectors and incorporate qualitative factors to provide a more comprehensive understanding of firm value determinants. Keywords: Firm Value, Profitability, Liquidity, Capital Structure, Healthcare Companies