News

The Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) Commencement ceremony was held on 14 July 2013 at the University Cultural Centre, marking a momentous occasion for the graduating students from SSHSPH as they celebrated an important milestone in their lives. Jointly hosted with Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, the ceremony saw a total of 37 Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students receive their graduate degrees from NUS Pro-Chancellor Mr Po’ad Mattar. This year also marked the inaugural batch of Master ofRead more

The 4th NUS Initiative to Improve Health in Asia (NIHA) Forum was held on 1st and 2nd July 2013 at Traders Hotel, Singapore. Jointly organised by the National University of Singapore (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and NUS Global Asia Institute (GAI), the 2-day event saw approximately 90 healthcare leaders and decision-makers, healthcare policy academics and industry experts from around the region convene to tackle this year’s theme of “Economics, Technology Assessment and Health Policymaking”. The Forum was kicked off by NUS President, Prof Tan Chorh Chuan, who delivered the welcomeRead more

The Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health is pleased to announce that Associate Professor Teo Yik Ying received the NUS Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (FTEA) AY 2011/2012 in recognition of his many contributions and commitment to teaching excellence at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in the last academic year. This year’s award winners, including Yik Ying, were recognised at the Stars@NUHS Awards Presentation Ceremony held at the NUHS Auditorium on 3rd April 2013. NUHS Chief Executive Assoc Prof Benjamin Ong was the guest-of-honour for the two-hour event which saw NUHS staff receivingRead more

The NUS Annual Safety & Health Performance Award (ASHPA) is awarded by the Office of Safety, Health and Environment (OSHE) and is in recognition of NUS Departments/Faculties, Research Institutes & Corporate Offices which have made or are making significant improvements to their safety and health management systems (SHMS). SSHSPH has again won the Commendation Award of the NUS ASHPA in 2013. Congratulations! This is the highest possible award in recognition of the effective implementation of our safety and health management system. A/Prof Chia Sin Eng received the Award on the School’s behalf from President Prof Tan Chorh Chuanduring the OSHE 10th Anniversary Appreciation Dinner onRead more

A study conducted on the health of adults with intellectual disabilities has found that they are more prone to chronic conditions like hypertension than the general population. The study, conducted by the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and  involving 227 intellectually disabled adults from the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled Singapore (MINDS), found that intellectually disabled adults had a 22.5% chance of developing hypertension, and 34.8% chance of suffering from high cholesterol. The problem is compounded by the lack of  exercise among intellectually disabled adults, says Associate Professor GeraldRead more

Ms Safiyah Salim, a student of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, sees herself as a public health professional, hopefully having the opportunity to serve vulnerable populations. Having been a disablity policy officer at the then-Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Safiyah gained an interest in issues like helping the disabled secure jobs, ensuring community care for the disabled and improving their access to assistive technology. Enrolling in the School’s Master of Public Health (MPH) programme has enabled her to acquire the technical skills to make more evidence-basedRead more

The 1st Worlds of Healthy Flavors Asia was held on 28 – 30 November 2012 at Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore. Organised by the Culinary Institute of America, Harvard School of Public Health – Department of Nutrition, NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) and Health Promotion Board, Singapore, this inaugural by-invitation only event brought together leading foodservice and health leaders who tackled health issues in Asia such as diabetes and obesity. Prof Chia Kee Seng, Dean of SSHSPH, said that “working together and taking advantage of each other’s strengthsRead more

Young and educated men who have casual sex are less likely to use protection then older customers who visit brothels, a survey has found. The study, led by Assoc Prof Wong Mee Lian of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. sampled 1,219 heterosexual Singaporean men on their sexual risk behaviour. Assoc Prof Wong said the men who met women online or at entertainment venues may be putting themselves at greater risk due to their spontaneous and alcohol-fuelled behaviour. Media Coverage: The Sunday Times, 18 November 2012

The major public health issues confronting us today are highly complex and require multiple levels of interventions. Public health specialists of the future will need to have a broader set of skills and perspective in order to lead the fight against the epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and threat of pandemics. Dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health Professor Chia Kee Seng, highlighted this point when he conducted a tutorial with both faculty and graduate students of SSHSPH and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) through the UBD GlobalRead more

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will be reviewing guidelines to improve the removing of asbestos from its buildings. Before asbestos was banned in 1989, it was commonly used in building construction, and the material is still present in many older buildings. Dr Lim John Wah, Occupational Health Physician at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, co-authored and published a study on rising asbestos exposure. According to Dr Lim, demolition works, and the wear and tear of asbestos-containing materials can release asbestos and that asbestos-relatedRead more

A group of researchers in Singapore have devised a computer program to reduce blindness caused by severe myopia. The program is based on early and rapid detection of peripapillary atrophy (PPA), and can be used as a quick and automatic screening tool in hospitals. It was noted that in Singapore, about 9 per cent of 40 to 80 year old Chinese people suffer from severe myopia, with the rate at about 4 per cent for Indians and Malays in the same age group. The programme was a collaborative effort betweenRead more

The recently concluded 1st Singapore International Public Health Conference held in conjunction with the 7th Singapore Public Health and Occupational Medicine Conference on 1 – 2 October 2012 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore, was a resounding success. More than 500 international and local delegates from government agencies, business, research institutions, institutes of learning, healthcare agencies, multilaterals and civil society from 15 countries gathered at this two-day multi-disciplinary conference to share ideas, unearth possibilities and drive action to address current public health issues such as the burden of diabetes, infectious diseases andRead more