The Second National Health and Morbidity Study (NHMS 2) was conducted in 1996 and funded by R&D Funding under the Intensification of Research in Priority Areas Programme, Government of Malaysia and Ministry of Health.  The need for this survey was identified during a discussion on research priority areas for the Seventh Malaysia Plan.  NHMS 2 was aimed to provide community based data and information for the MOH to review health priorities, programme strategies and activities and planning for allocation of resources.

The scopes covered in this survey were load of illness, health seeking behaviour, healthcare consumption cost, health related behaviours (exercise, breast-feeding practices, pap-smear behaviour: smoking alcohol consumption, drug abuse, sexual practices), specific health problems (hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, medically diagnosed cancer, injury, physical impairments, astmna and acute respiratory infections), and blood choleterol level.  The NHMS 2 covered whole Malaysia including Sabah and Sarawak.  The response rate at Living Quarters (LQ) level was 86.9%.