Speeches
Speech by A/Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Parliamentary Secretary (Health), at the Official Launch of the Healthy Living Master Plan, 23 Apr 2014
23 April 2014
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Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
I am happy to be here today at the release of the Healthy Living Master Plan (HLMP) report. This report is a testament to the contributions and efforts of Singaporeans, public agencies, private partners and, members of the Healthy Living Master Plan Taskforce.
2 From 2012 to 2013, Singaporeans were invited to be part of the Our Singapore Conversation to share their priorities for today and their aspirations for the future. Not surprisingly, health emerged as a topic close to the hearts of many.
The Current Health Landscape
3 Singaporeans, like citizens in many developed nations around the world, are living longer. Today, women can expect to live to 85 years old and men to 80 years old1, on average. By 2030, the number of Singaporeans aged 65 and above is projected to triple to 900,0002.
4 Non communicable diseases (NCDs)3 such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes can affect daily living and our quality of life as we age. According to the Singapore Burden of Diseases4Study 2010, approximately 70 percent of the burden of deaths and ill-health are caused by NCDs.
5 To live long and live well, we need to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Only then are we able to continue to pursue our goals and aspirations. Our efforts to promote and encourage healthy living in the population over the past years have yielded good results. Singapore was ranked first on the list of the world’s healthiest countries by Bloomberg in 2012. We are encouraged by this but efforts to motivate healthy behaviours have to continue to sustain, in particular, our obesity and smoking rates through 2020.
6 To do this, we embarked on developing the Healthy Living Master Plan (HLMP) to make healthy living accessible, natural, and effortless for all Singaporeans.
Creating a Healthy Living Master Plan for the People
7 To create a Master Plan that is inclusive and resonates with everyone, we spoke to Singaporeans from all walks of life. In our six-week-long public consultation last year, we engaged 530 individuals via both face-to-face and online platforms. At this juncture, I would like to acknowledge the Taskforce members who gave of their personal time and actively engaged participants to draw out their thoughts and ideas at these platforms.
8 Many good ideas on encouraging and motivating individuals to practise healthy living habits were gathered. These ideas included having access to physical infrastructure that is closer to home and for healthy living options to be more affordable. A substantial number of Singaporeans also indicated that social ties and the presence of role models can be good motivators for behavioural change.
9 These ideas gave rise to the 3Ps of Place, People and Price. The first element, “Place” involves creating a conducive environment by integrating the physical environments for seamless access to healthier options. The second, “People”, means being inclusive in our outreach to all segments of society, especially the lower income, youth and older people. Lastly, “Price”, is about making healthy living affordable and within the reach of everyone through lower cost healthier options.
10 With these helpful ideas and the guidance of the Taskforce members, a vision of Singapore in 2020 was painted – Healthy Living Every Day: Making the Connections. In this vision, healthy living options will be at the “doorstep” of every home, office and school so that the individual can embrace healthy living as a part of his everyday routine.
Successes of the Healthy Living Master Plan
11 We have already begun working on the ground to bring healthy living to everyone’s doorstep. To date, we have put in place several key initiatives to start us on this journey of Healthy Living Every Day. We started with the Healthy Workplace Ecosystem at Mapletree Business City (MBC) in October 2013.
12 MBC was the first business hub to work with its tenants, occupants and HPB to promote healthy living in a workplace setting. We have seen small encouraging successes in the past six months at MBC. Currently, there are four active running groups and in the past five months, more than 1,000 attendees have participated in physical activity sessions. Furthermore, with more than half of the F&B establishments offering healthier options and over 90 percent of stalls in the foodcourt committed to offer 500 calorie meals, 20 percent of the meals in MBC are now healthier meals.
13 In the community, two efforts to develop Healthy Community Ecosystems started in January this year at Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang. We collaborated with agencies like Land Transport Authority (LTA), National Parks Board (NParks), Ministry of Education (MOE), Sport Singapore (SS), Town Council, the People’s Association (PA), as well as the Regional Health Systems, to create these healthy community ecosystems. HPB also works with eateries such as coffee shops to offer healthier food options in the community. Such ecosystems make it easier for residents to connect to healthier options within their community.
14 Easy access to healthy living programmes meant that we saw more people participating in them. For example, the Sundays at The Parks programme sees on the average 50 residents during each weekly session at Choa Chu Kang and Sembawang Parks. In these two towns, more than 600 residents have participated in healthy living programmes such as Zumba, kickboxing and charade.
15 In schools, the Healthy Meals in Schools Programme, implemented since 2011, has received positive feedback from both parents and schools. Similarly, for the Healthy Meals in Childcare Centres Programme, introduced in 2012. A total of about 100 mainstream schools and 240 childcare centres have come onboard to serve wholegrain options, and fruit and vegetables on their premises.
16 All these successes could only have been achieved with the support of our partners, both public and private. Indeed, to make Healthy Living Every Day possible for every Singaporean, it takes the efforts of multiple stakeholders.
17 Going forward, we will ride on the successes of the Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang projects. The ISC looks towards replicating these models for health-promoting physical and social environments to other precincts over the next one to two years. This will be similarly played out in the childcare centres, schools and ITEs, where the ISC members will synergise implementation of programmes for physical activity, and mental well-being, beyond healthy meals.
Conclusion
18 I am excited that we have reached this milestone after the past one and half year and want to thank everyone who has contributed in one way or another to the report.
19 I would like to make special mention of the invaluable contributions of our Taskforce members. They not only shared many insights and experiences in the conceptualisation of the HLMP, but had helped to open their agencies’ doors to start off sustained efforts in embedding healthy living into their agenda.
20 The HLMP is a living document and will continue to evolve as new ideas are generated, and new approaches emerge. From now, the Taskforce will pass on the baton to the HLMP Implementation Steering Committee (ISC) to continue the next lap of the journey to bring the ideas to fruition. The ISC comprises representatives from various public agencies. They will commit to the implementation of projects envisioned in the Master Plan in achieving the common whole-of-government goal of healthy living for all Singaporeans.
21 On this note, I also want to encourage every Singaporean to be part of this journey with us and adopt healthy living as a lifestyle so that Healthy Living Every Day can be made possible. Thank you.
[1] Department of Statistics (DOS), Singapore,2012.
[2] National Talent and Population Division. A Sustainable Population for a Dynamic Singapore: Population White Paper. January 2013.
[3] Disease burden is the impact of a health problem (opens in new tab) measured in terms of financial cost (opens in new tab), ill health and preventable death. It can be quantified in terms of quality-adjusted life years (opens in new tab) (QALYs) or disability-adjusted life years (opens in new tab) (DALYs), both of which quantify the number of years lost due to disease.
[4] The burden of disease is measured using the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). This time-based measure is calculated as the sum of the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature mortality in the population and the Years Lost due to Disability (YLD) for people living with the health condition or its consequences.