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On 28 July, the HealthySG taskforce proposed that vaccination subsidies be given to Singaporean adults and Permanent Residents to protect themselves against vaccine-preventable diseases. According to data from the Ministry of Health, the take-up rate for the influenza vaccine is 12 to 14 percent among adults. Among elderly aged 65 to 74 years, the rate is 14 per cent, which is worrying as seniors tend to have weaker immune systems that make it harder for them to fight off infections and also cause them to be more prone to complications.Read more

Warmer temperatures enhance the growth of mosquito larvae and cause them to grow into adult mosquitoes faster, said Assistant Professor Vincent Pang, Director, Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research (CIDER). “Some studies showed that warmer temperatures may also increase the number of eggs laid per mosquito,” he added. In addition to hot weather and the increase in Aedes mosquito population, low herd immunity could also be one of the main reasons for the spike in cases this year. Professor Leo Yee Sin, Executive Director of the National Centre for

To understand the current dengue outbreak, Associate Professor Alex Cook, Vice Dean (Research), revisits the situation in the years following Singapore’s independence and explains how the virus was limited in its transmission in the next few decades. Fifty years ago, it was limited by number of people to infect, as most people had already been infected and were immune to the virus. As the country developed one of the world’s best vector control programmes, transmission was limited by availability of both people and mosquitoes to infect. Over the years, it

Singapore is seeing one of the worst dengue seasons in several years, with more cases so far this year than the last two years combined. Assistant Professor Vincent Pang, Director, Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research (CIDER), attributed the rise of dengue clusters in certain areas to three factors: 1) greater clustering of households within a residential area, 2) low cluster herd immunity, and 3) high frequency of residents travelling to dengue-endemic countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. He added that areas with a greater number

On 15-18 July 2019, a delegation of nine SSHSPH faculty members travelled to Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, to learn more about the public health issues facing the country, as well as how the Lao people are working towards overcoming them. They were joined by two members of Thailand’s Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP). The group was hosted by Dr Sengchanh Kounnavong, Director of the Lao Tropical and Public Health Institute. They also had the opportunity to visit the National Tuberculosis Centre, Nutrition Center and Maternal & Child

Held on 24-28 June, the NUS Initiative to Improve Health in Asia Leadership Development Programme (NIHA LDP) 2019 was organised by the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, and co-hosted by National Health Foundation Thailand, the Access and Delivery Partnership (ADP) and the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI). More than 70 senior regulators, health policymakers and practitioners from 18 countries took part in the programme with the theme ‘Advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through the use of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for health care priority setting and reimbursement’. The programme covered

Faculty, alumni, current students and graduands gathered on 11 July for an evening of reunion and celebration at SSHSPH AlumNite 2019 held at Park Avenue Rochester Hotel. Vice Dean (Education), Associate Professor Jeannette Lee addressed the graduands, congratulating them on their achievements and for completing their studies. She also shared her hopes that they would stay in touch and return for future AlumNites, this time as alumni. This year, alumna Ms Petrina Ho (MPH ’12) was invited to share about her SSHSPH education and public health experience. Ms Ho is

It was a memorable day for the Class of 2019 as our graduating students marked a significant milestone at the SSHSPH Commencement Ceremony on 12 July. Held at the University Cultural Centre, 38 Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) graduates received their degrees from Presiding Officer Mr Gautam Banerjee, NUS Pro-Chancellor. The ceremony was jointly hosted by the School of Computing. Guest of Honour, Mr Chng Kai Fong, Managing Director, Economic Development Board, addressed the graduates, congratulating them on their achievements. He