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The Ministry of Health introduced two new strategies on 10 Oct as part of the War on Diabetes. Pre-packaged beverages that are high in sugar will need to display a new colour-coded front-of-pack nutrition summary label. A total ban on advertising will also be imposed on beverages that are deemed the unhealthiest and graded the lowest on the label. Each beverage will be assigned a summary grade based on its nutritional quality, where sugar content will be the main but not the only determinant. Factors like the amount of fatRead more

Recently, US health officials reported 18 deaths due to a mysterious lung illness linked to e-cigarettes and other vaping products, and said the number of confirmed and probable cases of the condition now exceeds 1,000. In an estimated 80 per cent of cases, they were vaping mixtures of substances, including marijuana oil. The mystery illnesses resemble a pneumonia which typically starts with nausea, vomiting and shortness of breath, and quickly degrades into a more serious condition where they require to a ventilator. Senior Research Fellow, Dr Yvette van der Eijk usesRead more

There are a growing number of jurisdictions and countries amending their legislation and allowing medicinal cannabis. There is an increasingly high level of variation of medicinal cannabis policies across countries and a lack of an international consensus on how to proceed. This topic has a specific regional focus at present, with Thailand legalising medical cannabis and the production and cultivation of the plant. With these global and regional shifts in mind, the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health held a Public Health Thought Leadership Dialogue (PHTLD) on 8 OctoberRead more

Singaporeans are becoming more aware of healthy eating habits, but many are not meeting the recommended weekly exercise standards. In a study recently published in The Annals, over 800 non-diabetic Singaporeans aged 30–64 were surveyed on their knowledge, attitudes and lifestyle practices in preventing Type 2 Diabetes. Nearly 90 per cent of respondents would reduce their consumption of sweet drinks, cakes and candies, and more than two-thirds choose wholemeal bread over white bread. But while most were aware of the impact of diabetes on their health, there are still gapsRead more

Micronutrient deficiencies were commonplace in the past, with the term ‘malnourished’ calling to mind images of underweight children in developing countries. But despite societies around the world getting more affluent, problems related to lack of essential nutrients in our diet are creeping back, says Assistant Professor Mary Chong. With food now more abundant and affordable, people are more likely to meet their needs for these micronutrients. However, the vast amount of food choices have also led to overconsumption of calories — in particular, highly processed foods that are high inRead more

The School is proud to announce that Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang and Adjunct Associate Professor Jeremy Lim have been jointly appointed as Co-Directors of the Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation (LIGHT), with effect from 1 September 2019. LIGHT was established in 2016 to address global health issues that are relevant to Singapore and the School’s regional partners. It aims to be a platform to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas, as well as support international collaborations to facilitate evidence-based solutions that deliver measurable public health impact to Singapore and acrossRead more

The most common reasons for low vaccination take-up rates, which are similar across most high-income countries in the context of influenza vaccines, are lack of recommendation by healthcare providers, lack of knowledge (including misconceptions) about influenza and influenza vaccines, concerns about vaccine efficacy and side effects, and lack of opportunities for vaccination. Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases), and Associate Professor Alex Cook, Vice Dean (Research), suggest a multipronged approach to improve adult vaccination coverage in Singapore. These include running recurrent, consistent and targeted education campaigns toRead more

There have been over 9,700 cases of dengue reported since the start of 2019, five times more than the number seen this time last year and more than double the total cases for all of 2017. This increase is across Southeast Asia, with several neighbouring countries also reporting a sharp rise in dengue infections this year. Assistant Professor Vincent Pang, Director, Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research (CIDER), and Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian, Senior Consultant, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, explain the different drivers in dengue epidemics. Firstly,Read more

More than 700 doctors, data scientists, data engineers, software engineers and innovators gathered at the Healthcare AI Datathon and Expo 2019 to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to tackle healthcare challenges. Jointly organised by the School, National University Health System (NUHS) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the event held on 17-21 July comprised conferences, seminars, workshops and exhibitions featuring prototypes using machine learning algorithms to improve patient outcomes. Event highlights video from NUHS The Datathon held on 19-21 July brought together clinicians, data scientists and statisticiansRead more

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 forRead more

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, itRead more