National Population Health Survey 2016/17 FAQs

1.        What are the objectives of the National Population Health Survey 2016/17?

The primary objective of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS) is to assess the health status of Singapore residents in relation to diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes, and risk factors like smoking and obesity. The Survey will help the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) to evaluate existing programmes and develop new programmes to improve the health of Singapore residents.

There are two stages to the Survey. In the first stage, selected households will be asked to take part in the NPHS (Household Interview). In the second stage, some of the participants who have completed NPHS (Household Interview) will be invited to take part in NPHS (Health Examination) and NPHS (Nutrition Interview).

• NPHS (Household Interview)

Company: Ipsos Pte Ltd

Interviewers from this company will wear an identification tag bearing their name, photograph and the company’s official stamp when conducting the Survey. They will also carry a letter of authorisation from the MOH and HPB.

• NPHS (Health Examination)

Company: SATA CommHealth

You will be given a letter of invitation for the health examination. You can attend the health examination with their letter of invitation at their preferred clinic location, date and time.

• NPHS (Nutrition Interview)

MOH and HPB will be conducting a nutrition survey in the upcoming months. A staff from an appointed research company by HPB will be calling you to provide more information if you have been selected for the survey.

2.        How do I know whether my household unit is being selected for the National Population Health Survey 2016/17?

Households selected for the Survey will receive an invitation letter from the MOH and HPB at least one week before the interviewer’s visit. Authorised survey interviewers will visit your house to administer questionnaires through face-to-face interviews with your household members.

3.        Is the letter sent to households written in English? I am more comfortable reading Chinese/Malay/Tamil than English.

The letter sent to households selected for the Survey will be in the four official languages - English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

4.        I have lost the letter sent to my household unit. Where can I get a copy of the letter?

You can call the HPB hotline at 1800 4748211 and we will re-send a copy of the invitation letter to you.

5.        How are households being selected for the National Population Health Survey 2016/17?

A total of 12,000 households have been randomly selected from the National Database on Dwellings (maintained by the Department of Statistics) to take part in the National Population Health Survey 2016/17.

6.        What should I do if my household unit is being selected for the National Population Health Survey 2016/17?

An interviewer from Ipsos Pte Ltd, the independent research company commissioned by the MOH and HPB to do the Survey, will visit your house between November 2016 and April 2017. Please extend your co-operation to the interviewer during his/her visit(s) so that the survey for each member of your household can be completed as quickly as possible. If the survey for any of your household members cannot be completed, the interviewer will ask for another appointment date to re-visit your house to complete the questionnaire.

7.        How do I check the identity of the interviewer who visits my house is authorised to conduct the National Population Health Survey 2016/17?

Interviewers visiting your house to conduct the survey will carry an identification card and a letter of authorisation from the MOH and HPB. You may contact the HPB hotline at 1800 2231313 if you wish to confirm the identity of the interviewer.

8.        What happens during the interviewer’s visit to my house? How long will the interview take?

The interviewer will ask you to list all the household members who are Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents aged 3 years and older living at your house.

• For household members who are aged 18 to 74 years, the interviewer will randomly select one household member (‘reference person’) to take part in this Survey. All children (aged 3 to 12 years), teenagers (aged 13 to 17 years) and older persons aged 65 years and above (if any) related to this reference person and living at the same address will also be interviewed.

• For a household member who is a child (aged 3 to 12 years), the interviewer will conduct a face-to-face interview with a parent or guardian of the child using Questionnaire C for children.

• For a household member who is a teenager (aged 13 to 17 years), the interviewer will conduct a face-to-face interview with him/her using Questionnaire B for adolescents.

• For the household member who is selected as the reference person and all older persons aged 65 years and above, the interviewer will conduct a face-to-face interview with the individuals themselves using Questionnaire A.

• For households with only elderly members aged 75 years and above (i.e. no persons between the age of 18 to 74 years live in the household), the interviewer will interview all the elderly household members using Questionnaire A.

The interviewer will obtain written consent from household members using specific consent forms before conducting the face-to-face interviews.

If the interviews with all selected household members cannot be completed on the same day, the interviewer will arrange to visit your home again on another day to complete the remaining sections of the questionnaire or the remaining interviews. We thank you in advance for your co-operation.

9.        Who should I include as household members when I am asked by the interviewer to list them?

Household members refer to the home-owner (who is either paying rent or mortgage loan on the house, or has fully paid up for the house) and his/her family members living in the same household. Family members include husband or wife, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, parents, and grandparents.

Relatives of the home-owner (e.g. uncle, niece, cousin, daughter-in-law or grandchildren) who are staying with the house owner on a long-term basis (more than 4 nights in a week for more than 6 months in a year and share common food or other arrangements with the owner’s) should be included. However, foreign domestic workers, tenants renting the house, and friends or relatives who are staying with the house owner on a short-term basis (less than 6 months) should be excluded.

10.       Will the individual information provided by me or my household members be kept confidential?

You are assured of strict confidentiality of all individual information provided. All information collected for the Survey will be kept strictly confidential and will only be used for the planning and evaluation of national health programmes to improve the health of Singaporeans. Any information published with regard to the Survey will only be in aggregate form, from which no individual information can be identified.

11.       What type of questions will you be asking in the Survey?

The Survey will be collecting demographic information as well as a variety of health related topics on chronic diseases, exercise, nutrition, smoking, mental wellbeing and health screening. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

12.       Do I have to answer all the questions in the Survey?

Your views are very important to us and we can assure you that any answer you or your household provides us will be kept strictly confidential. However, you can choose not to answer any question if you do not feel comfortable answering. You can also choose to stop the interview at any time.

13.       I am one of the household units selected for the National Population Health Survey 2016/17. However, I will be moving out of my current house to a new address soon. Do I still need to take part in the Survey?

If the interviewer visits your house before you move to your new address, you are requested to take part in the Survey. If you move to your new address before the interviewer can complete the interview(s) required for your household, please provide your new address and contact number(s) to the interviewer so that he/she can follow up with you to complete all the required interviews at your new address. We thank you in advance for your co-operation.

If no interviewer visits your house by the time you move to your new address, you are not required to take part in the Survey.

14.       I am one of the household units selected for the National Population Health Survey 2016/17. However, my household members and I may not be around or we may not be free when the interviewer knocks on our door. What should we do?

If there is no one at home when the interviewer visits your home, the interviewer will leave a note with contact details indicating that he/she has visited your address. Please contact the interviewer to arrange for a convenient date and time for the interview. Interviews can be arranged on any day including weekends and Public Holidays, between 10am to 9.30pm.

If you and household members are not available or need to go out when the interviewer visits your house, please arrange with the interviewer to visit your house again at another time or on another day.

15.       I am one of the household units selected for the National Population Health Survey 2016/17. However, I am just a tenant and the home-owner is not living in this address. Do I still need to take part in the Survey?

Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents are eligible to take part in the Survey. Non-residents do not need to take part in the Survey.

16.       I have already completed the National Population Health Survey but was asked to undergo a health examination. What is the objective of this health examination?

The National Population Health Survey comprises two stages, a household interview in the first stage, and two follow-up surveys (health examination and nutrition survey) in the second stage. Following the completion of the household interview in the first stage, all reference persons from the household interview will be invited to take part in the health examination.

The second stage of the Survey involves a health examination where we take some measurements such as height, weight, hip, waist and blood pressure; and samples of blood and urine.

The aim of the health examination is to assess the prevalence of chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity status of Singapore residents. Past results from the health examination have provided us with a lot of information on the health of Singapore’s population.

A token of appreciation will be given for the completion of the health examination and a full report on your health status will be mailed out to you about 6 weeks after completing your health examination. If you wish to follow up on your medical report, please consult your family physician as the desirable values provided in the report serve only as a guide and results of these tests have to be individualised according to your health state.

There are several points that you should note before you undergo the health examination. For the results of the blood tests to be accurate and reliable:

• Do not eat or drink anything except plain water after 10 p.m. on the night before your appointment. You must not have any breakfast on the morning of your appointment. Drinks such as tea, coffee etc., and sweets are not allowed but you can continue to drink plain water.

• If you are taking medicine for any chronic condition besides diabetes (E.g. high blood pressure, asthma, heart diseases), please continue to take your medicine as directed by your doctor.

• If you are a diabetic on medication or insulin injections:

  • Do not take your morning diabetes medication/ injection;

  • Bring the diabetes medication with you to the clinic. Once the blood test is over, take the diabetes medication and have breakfast. Some light snacks will be provided. However, if you have a special dietary requirement, please carry some food with you; and

  • Please make sure that you inform the person at the survey registration that you are a diabetic patient.

• Please wear light and loose clothing with short sleeves, so that the tests can be carried out easily.

17.       I have already completed the National Population Health Survey but was asked to take part in a survey on nutrition. What is the objective of this survey?

The National Population Health Survey comprises two stages, a household interview in the first stage, and two follow-up surveys (health examination and nutrition survey) in the second stage. Following the completion of the household interview in the first stage, some of the reference persons from the household interview will be invited to take part in the nutrition survey.

We thank you for your participation in the first stage of the Survey. The nutrition survey in the second stage aims to understand the diet of Singapore residents, in order to better plan healthy eating programmes. A staff from an appointed research company by HPB will be calling you to provide more information if you have been selected for the survey. 

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We thank you in anticipation of your co-operation. If you have any other questions about the National Population Health Survey, please call or email us:

• HPB hotline at 1800 4748211 between Monday to Friday (excluding Public Holidays) from 8.30am to 5pm.

• Email address: hpb_nphs@hpb.gov.sg

National Population Health Survey 2016/17 Press Release