News

Celebrating Public Health Fundraising Dinner

On 19th May 2017, the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health held its first ever fundraising dinner in support of the SSHSPH Help-A-Student Fund at the Della and Seng Gee Guild Hall, NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House. The “Celebrating Public Health” event saw a capacity attendance of over 300 guests, including public health pioneers, donors, industry partners, alumni, students, staff as well as former colleagues of the School. It was truly an evening of celebration of Singapore’s public health achievements, reunions of colleagues and peers, appreciation of Singapore’s publicRead more

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Drinking milk lowers risk of diabetes, hypertension: NUS study

Love milk? According to findings from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, adults who consume at least one 240ml glass of cow’s milk every day has a 12 per cent lower risk of diabetes than those who do not. The findings from the study, led by principal investigator Professor Koh Woon Puay, was published in the Journal of Nutrition earlier this year in February. According to Prof Koh, milk and dairy lower the risk of diabetes and hypertension, as they contain minerals such as calcium. These minerals increase the body’s insulin secretion

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Tele-rehab option for physiotherapy to be rolled out at 14 institutions

Patients that required to undergo physiotherapy will soon be able to opt for their rehabilitation activities to be carried out in the comforts of their home. Rehabilitation activities can be monitored by therapists as patients will be using wearable sensors to monitor their movements while being filmed on a tablet. The NUS Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health jointly developed the tele-rehab system — said to be the first of its kind — which includes a set-up comprising a tablet, neck

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Close-up photo of a cigarette

Curb tobacco access to fight youth smoking

Singapore’s latest move to deter youths from taking their first puff is to raise the minimum legal age for smoking from 18 to 21, a measure to be phased in over a few years. Research has suggested that governments should restrict the number of sales points for cigarettes so as to deter the youth from purchasing cigarettes. Places like Tasmania and Bhutan have either drafted legislation or a total ban or to outlaw smoking for people that are born after the year 2000. Singapore has tried with the movement called

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$5 health screening for 1.8 million Singaporeans: Letters out from August

This August, 1.8 million Singaporeans are entitled to a health screening that will cost $5 or less, under the Enhanced Screen for Life programme that will start in September. Invitation letters will be set to all Singaporeans that are aged 40 years and older. With the letter, the eligible will be able to call on more than 1000 general practice clinics that are on the Community Health Assist Scheme (Chas) to fix a date to screen for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, cervical and colorectal cancers. The Health

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Saying No to Diabetes Dialogue

“What is Diabetes?” “What is Insulin?” “Why is Diabetes a silent killer?” “What is the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes?”   These were some of the questions that were posted by some of the residents that had attended the Punggol 21 CC Health Fiesta- Say No to Diabetes Dialogue on 25th of March 2017. As part of the school’s ongoing efforts to educate the public on diabetes and what might be the underlying factors that causes diabetes, Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School

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World Tuberculosis Day 2017: Are we doing enough?

24 March 2017 marks World Tuberculosis Day. Tuberculosis, known as TB is an air-borne disease that is transmitted through fine respiratory droplets from an infected person. It usually affects the lungs and if not treated properly, TB can be a fatal disease. This year’s World TB Day there is the same from 2016, which is “Unite to End TB”. There is a special focus on the efforts that can be taken to overcome barriers to access quality TB care and leave no one behind. Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme

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Cultivating a healthy lifestyle from young

The trend of consuming home packed lunches to work or school is seen as a healthier option but people are still having food from hawker centres, food courts and coffee shops four to seven times a week. Dr Mary Chong, Assistant Professor, stated that here is an importance of cultivating healthy eating habits from young as if people were to wait until adulthood, their eating habits would have been deeply entrenched and would be difficult to modify. The presence of developmental, biological and behavioral influences will have long-term profound consequences on

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Adapting to an Ageing population

In the program Challenge Tomorrow: Adapting to Ageing, the host sets out to find out what it means to be an elderly person living in this current time and why ageing can be seen to be a problem for the society. An ageing population places a higher demand on healthcare and there is a need to increase the number of people in the intermediate and long term healthcare sector by 2020 to support the demand. Living in an era of smart machines plays an important role in an ageing society

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Raising minimum legal age for smoking: Making it harder for youth to light up

The minimum legal age for smoking in Singapore will be raised from 18 to 21, to make it harder for young people to get hold of cigarettes at a time when they are more vulnerable to peer pressure and the addictive effects of nicotine. The National Health Surveillance Survey showed that Singaporeans are starting to pick up the habit at a younger age. Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health noted that “Tobacco companies are known to target youth in their marketing to

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