News

Associate Professor Rob Martinus Van Dam shared his knowledge together with Will Hawkins, Nutritionist at Push Doctor about the effects of caffeine addiction with The Tab UK. Prof Rob mentioned how the human body can become physically dependent on caffeine and if consumed regularly, people can become tolerant to coffee and would need a larger dose to achieve the same effects. Both experts have agreed that coffee can have positive health benefits when consumed in smaller quantities.  In terms of estimating the exact amount of caffeine consumed to lead to beingRead more

In Singapore, tobacco kills about 2500 smokers each year. Even though the overall smoking rate has stabilized at 13 percent for the Singapore context, it does not compare well with the likes of other developed countries like Sweden and Australia. There are different measures in place to try and get the public to know the harms of smoking and programs have been rolled out by the Health Promotion Board to schools in an  effort to stub out smoking among the young population within educational institutions. “People who do not startRead more

Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and Dr Kenneth Warner, Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor of Public Health at the Michigan School of Public Health, University of Michigan have raised the alarm bells on the increase in tobacco-related deaths. Smoking kills approximately six million people a year, and one tenth of those deaths are from inhaling second-hand smoke. Even with government intervention with tobacco control measures like public education on the harmful effects, taxation, control of sales and advertising, the death tollRead more

A study co-authored by Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Head of the Antimicrobial Resistance Programme at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, found out there is a potential risk to consumers if they were to consume raw meat that might harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which could cause difficult-to-treat infections. A test was conducted during the study and the results showed that 15 out of 19 raw chilled and frozen samples of chicken meat obtained from various retail stores in Singapore tested positive for a type of bacteria known as extended-spectrumRead more

Controlling portion sizes served by food vendors could be an effective tactic in reducing over-consumption and tackling obesity, says Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Singapore is seeing rising obesity rates, with one in nine Singapore residents aged between 18 and 69 considered obese in 2010, a figure which was approximately double the rate in 1992. Obesity was also found to be more prevalent among males, at 12.1 percent, as compared to females at 9.5 percent. Over-eating may be linked to cultural habitsRead more

A study conducted by NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine students in February 2015 revealed that 78% of patients who consulted their GPs were not aware that antibiotics do not work against viruses such as those which cause the common cold. More than two-thirds also mistakenly believed that antibiotics could cure coughs, sore throats and runny nose, symptoms usually caused by viruses. In addition, the study also found that a third of patients expected antibiotics to be prescribed for common ailments, and half of those would visit another doctorRead more

The World Antibiotic Awareness Week 2016, led by the World Health Organisation from 14 – 20 November, aims to increase the awareness of global antibiotic resistance and encourage best practices among the general public, health workers and policy makers to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance, which results when antibiotics lose their efficacy against bacteria that cause infections in humans and animals, is a major global public health concern which threatens to cause severe social and economic implications on a global scale.  At the United NationsRead more

Following the Ministry of Health’s declaration on a “war on diabetes” earlier this year, a strategic framework encompassing the domains of primary prevention, early detection and disease management was developed. The proposed action plans and implications of this framework were discussed during the School’s Public Health Thought Leadership Dialogue Driving Singapore’s War on Diabetes on 14 November 2016. The discussion chaired by Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean, included panelists Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, Deputy Director Medical Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr Sue-Anne Toh, Clinical Director of the NUHS Regional Health System PlanningRead more

Children getting myopia at a young age increases the risk of worsened vision later in life, a study by the Singapore Eye Research Institute has found. Parents should try their best to delay myopia in their children by making sure they spend time outdoors, says Prof Saw Seang Mei from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, who headed the study. Prof Saw and her research team studied nearly 1000 children over several years. Those who were diagnosed with myopia between the ages of 3 to 6 ended up with highRead more

Several key public health challenges including Singapore’s ongoing “War on Diabetes” and the threat of infectious diseases such as dengue and Zika were highlighted at the 2nd Singapore International Public Health Conference and the 11th Singapore Public Health and Occupational Medicine Conference. Close to 600 international and local researchers, academics, healthcare professionals, policy-makers and industry leaders from 25 countries attended the Conference on 29 and 30 September 2016. With the theme “Contemporary Challenges, Sustainable Solutions”, public health experts gathered to seek sustainable solutions to the many public health challenges facingRead more

On 21 September 2016, the United Nations will convene a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a problem which occurs when drugs used against pathogens become ineffective. The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a growing one, with infections and deaths from “superbugs” exceeding those of SARS, Zika or dengue, says Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme Leader of the School’s Antimicrobial Resistance Programme. Greater use of antibiotics in treating infectious diseases has increased the pressure on bacteria to evolve and develop a resistance to drugs, and hence there is a needRead more

Public distrust of vaccines can cause diseases like yellow fever and measles to spread quickly if people refuse vaccines, researchers say. The largest global survey on vaccine confidence surveyed nearly 66,000 people across 67 countries, and was led by researchers from the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, together with authors from Imperial College London and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. The survey showed that people in Southeast Asia displayed the highest vaccine confidence level, while Europeans showed the least confidence inRead more