Funding For Research on Link Between Mental Health and Variables Such As Gender, Socio-Economic Status and Race

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1381

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 3 OCTOBER 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Ms Carrie Tan

MP for Nee Soon GRC

Question No. 3442

To ask the Minister for Health whether the Ministry will put more funding into research on mental health and suicide, particularly to understand how factors related to gender, socio-economic group, race, education, marital status and income level, intersect to present the level of suicide risks in individuals.

Written Answer

Mental health and well-being, including studies exploring suicide and suicide-related behaviours and risk factors, is an area of interest amongst researchers.

For instance, the Singapore Mental Health Study (SMHS) examined the prevalence of common mental disorders and suicidal ideation among the adult population in Singapore. The Inter-Agency Research Workgroup for Youth Suicides led by IMH brought together various public agencies¹ to study the risk and protective factors of suicides and suicidal behaviours in the young.

MOH has also been supporting research in this area through various competitive research grant schemes under the national Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) Plans. In the current RIE2025 Plan, MOH has identified mental health as one of the priority areas for research. MOH also launched the $90M Population Health Research Grant in July 2022, of which mental health is one of the priority research themes.

[1] The inter-agency research workgroup comprised representatives from MCCY, MINDEF, MOE, MOH, MHA, MSF, HPB, HSA, IMH, NUH and the State Courts.