'Check Your Health' Community Health Sceening Programme

06 Jun 2000

INTRODUCTION

The "Check Your Health" Programme is a programme to screen for diabetes, hypertension and high blood cholesterol. These 3 conditions can lead to heart disease and stroke, the most important causes of ill health and death in Singapore. When diabetes, hypertension and high blood cholesterol level are detected early, they can be treated to prevent severe disabilities and therefore avoid the high social and medical costs associated with them.

The National Health Survey 1998 has shown that the prevalence of diabetes, hypertension and high total cholesterol level increased markedly from the age of 50 years (Annex 1). Moreover, more than half of those with hypertension and diabetes were not aware that they had the disease. Therefore, MOH will be embarking on a systematic national health screening programme, in collaboration with voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), to detect diabetes, hypertension and high blood cholesterol level in people 55 years and above.

SCREENING PROGRAMME

The "Check Your Health" programme will be carried out by the Ministry of Health together with the following VWOs :

PAP Community Foundation (PCF)

Touch Community Services

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society

Lions Befrienders

Chee Hoon Kog Moral Promotion Society

Thong Kheng Charitable Institution

The community health screening programme will include the following components :

(a) Personal health history :

• Lifestyle practices e.g. smoking, drinking, exercise

• Existing medical problems

(b) Health measurements :

• Height, weight, body mass index

• Blood pressure

(c) Laboratory tests :

• Blood sugar

• Total cholesterol

(d) Counselling :

• Results of screening

• Health risk, if any

• Women will be advised to attend for cervical and breast cancer screening.

Each person screened will be given a health booklet which will contain the results of the screening and health education information.

All those screened and found to have abnormal results will be counselled on site and referred to their family doctor or to the polyclinic for treatment. They will be monitored as to whether they have gone for the follow-up. Those who have not attended for follow-up will be sent reminder letters.

The programme aims to screen about 374,000 people aged 55 years and above over a period of three years. This screening programme will help to prevent severe disabilities arising from complication of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

LAUNCH

The "Check Your Health" programme will be launched simultaneously at 13 locations on Sunday, 9 July 2000 (Annex 2).

Subsequent screening sessions will be conducted every Sunday. About 300 persons will be screened at each session of 6 to 7 hours.

CHARGES

Participants will pay $5. The VWOs will assist those participants who are unable to pay the $5. MOH will subsidise about 75% of the screening programme and bear the start-up cost for the development of the computerised health screening data system, and for the production of the health booklets.

The co-payment by participants is to emphasise that health is a personal responsibility and individuals must be involved in looking after their own health.

ROLE OF THE VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS

The voluntary organisations will play a major role in the "Check Your Health" programme. They will provide subsidy for those who are unable to afford the co-payment. They will do home visits to motivate residents to pre-register for the screening. On the days of the screening, at the screening venues, the VWOs will be responsible for setting up the venues, crowd control, and registration of participants.