News

Monetary incentives have been used numerous times in weight-loss programmes or campaigns, such as in the case of the Health Promotion Board’s recent “1 Million Kg Challenge”, where participants can win prizes such as shopping vouchers, vacation packages and a car. A study conducted by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical aims to find our if getting participants to pay a deposit will be a motivating factor in behavioural change. Associate Professor Joanne Yoong from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, who researches in health economics, says that although incentivising personal healthRead more

Stroke patients may be able to recover at home soon, thanks to rehabilitation sessions via “teleconference”, which allow therapists to monitor their progress remotely. A team from the National University of Singapore has started conducting clinical trials, during which iPads are used to guide patients through exercises on videos, with data captured on motion sensors. The first three to six months post-stroke is an important period during which patients must seek rehabilitation to ensure improvement of their functional mobility. However, many stroke patients currently encounter difficulties in continuing with rehabilitationRead more

The Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health is pleased to announce that Assistant Professor Hsu Li Yang was awarded the Monteiro Lectureship by the Chapter of Infectious Disease Physicians, College of Physicians, Singapore for his breakthrough work on antibiotic resistance bacteria. Established in 2011, the Monteiro Lecture is held annually and awarded to a local or international distinguished member of the professional community who has made significant contributions in the fields of infectious diseases, microbiology, epidemiology or public health. Asst Prof Hsu is the second infectious disease expert to be conferredRead more

NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health faculty, Associate Professor Mikael Hartman, with fellow rider, trauma and breast cancer surgeon as well as faculty member of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, A/Prof Philip Iau, officially started The Long Ride 2014 – Singapore to Sweden for Breast Cancer Research today, 18 March 2014. Families, friends and colleagues gathered to express their support and well wishes to the two riders who, accompanied by a support vehicle, will go across 17 countries in Asia and Europe to raise funds and awareness for breastRead more

Singaporeans are living longer, but are we living healthier? As Singapore’s population increases in age and our lifestyles become more sedentary, reports show that 2 in 5 Singaporeans suffer from at least one chronic illness such as diabetes or high blood pressure. On the Red Dot learns about how some people have taken steps to change their lifestyles for the better, including bringing healthy living habits to the workplace. In this episode, Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, dispels some misconceptions that people have aboutRead more

Some of Singapore’s major healthcare news of 2013 included a deadly outbreak of dengue fever and a major revamp of Singapore’s healthcare system. Speaking to Power98 FM in an interview on major healthcare issues in the new last year, Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said that past research findings helped to better determine how patients were treated in this year’s dengue outbreak, which saw 8 fatalities and over 21,000 infections this year. He added that the management of the outbreak was good, andRead more

The NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health is deeply saddened by the passing of Emeritus Professor Lee Shiu-Hung, former Director of Health, Hong Kong. Prof Lee was a graduate of the School’s Diploma of Public Health course (Class of ’63) and went on to become a respected leader and advocate in the field of public health in Hong Kong and internationally. He was appointed founding Director of Health upon the establishment of the Department of Health in April 1989 and headed the Department until 1994. Under his leadership,Read more

Married women are also at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS from their infected husbands or partners, according to a study comissioned by the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) and led by Assoc Prof Wong Mee Lian from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health with support from the Department of STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections) Control, National Skin Centre and the Communicable Disease Centre. Among the women interviewed during the study, more than half of those diagnosed with HIV or AIDS had been infected by their husbands. Most lacked sexual empowermentRead more

Our local favourite dishes may be even unhealthier than fast food, according to Assoc Prof Rob van Dam from the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, who was speaking at the 2nd Annual Worlds of Healthy Flavours Asia 2013. In fact, 25 local dishes including fried rice, claypot rice and chicken rice contain higher levels of salt than Western fare such pizza, burgers or fries, leading to an increased consumption of sodium. Taking into account the hectic lifestyles of Singaporeans, Assoc Prof van Dam suggested that in order to lowerRead more

Retinal imaging tests conducted during pregnancy can help assess foetal growth outcomes, complementing the conventional ultrasound scans done during pregnancy. The study, GUSTO (Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes), found that abnormal retinal blood vessels are associated with hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular mortality. Preliminary findings also found that women with smaller eye vessels during pregnancy had a high chance of a smaller foetal growth. Professor Saw Seang Mei from the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and principal investigator of the GUSTO study said that pregnant mothers whoRead more

On 5 December 2013, Utrecht University inked two Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSoM) and NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) to foster partnerships on medical research and advancement. With this latest collaboration, the three institutions will see the exchange of scientific, academic and technical information and potentially two-way exchange of students, faculty, researchers and administrators. Ms Marjan Oudeman, President of Utrecht University, Professor John Wong, Chief Executive-Designate, National University Health System (NUHS) and Vice Provost (Academic Medicine), National UniversityRead more

Outdoor air pollution has been classified as carcinogenic to humans and positively correlated with increased risk of lung cancer and bladder cancer, according to a recent report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialised cancer agency of the World Health Organisation (WHO). It has already been proven that air pollution is linked to an increased risk of various other chronic conditions including respiratory and heart diseases. Professor Lee Hin Peng, head of the Chronic Diseases Programme at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, NationalRead more