Speech by Dr Amy Khor, Minister of State for Health, at the Go Red For Women Symposium, NUHS Tower Block Auditorium, Sunday 8 April 2012, 2pm

Associate Professor Terrance Chua, Chairman, Singapore Heart Foundation,

Associate Professor Carolyn Lam, Programme Director, Women’s Heart Health

Clinic, National University Heart Centre, Singapore,

Ladies and gentlemen.

1.         It is my privilege to be here with you this afternoon for Singapore Heart Foundation’s Go Red For Women symposium.

2.         Mention “heart disease” and people imagine an older man with a slight pot belly, holding a cigarette, puffing away. But the fact that heart disease affects women just as profoundly has been under-emphasized. Your symposium poster mentions that worldwide, heart disease and stroke together kill 8 times more women than breast cancer. In Singapore, it is only slightly less: heart disease and stroke together kill 5 times as many women than breast cancer[1]. Men have a greater risk for heart disease earlier in life than women, but women’s risk for heart disease increases after they have reached menopause. This is because oestrogen protects against heart disease and stroke, but when a woman reaches menopause, her oestrogen levels decrease. Other proven protective factors include the good type of cholesterol (HDL), and exercise. I’ll come back to this later.

3.         Age, gender and heredity are some risk factors for heart disease and stroke that you cannot change in your lifetime, no matter how hard you try. But there are behaviours that you can adopt to change other risk factors. These include not smoking, controlling your high blood pressure and high cholesterol, preventing obesity and physical inactivity, and managing diabetes and stress.

4.         I’m certain you have heard this laundry list more often than you can count. ‘So what?’, you might ask. Mark Twain once said, “The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not”. This might be conventional thinking and perception and actually, it is true that we all think that way sometimes. When we think of healthy living, we might think about how difficult it will be and how we are missing out from the finer foods in life. But here is a challenge, for you as well as for myself: What if we stop focusing on the negatives? What if we focus on the positives of health? We would gain so much more in life from living well!  For starters, I am glad that this Go Red for Women symposium builds upon the protective factors such as exercise and healthy diets, and holistically addresses those risk factors that can be changed.  Moreover, with advancements in culinary skills and food technology, healthy food can be tasty and exercise can be fun! If you don’t believe me, you can check out HPB’s website for exercise tips. There are also Healthier Hawker Centres, such as Yuhua Hawker Centre.

5.         So let’s be positive: Give me a few minutes now to share with you what Singaporean women have going for them. Firstly, we have good diet habits: women tend to make healthier food choices and are more weight conscious than men. For example, about half of women compared to about a third of men remove all the visible fat or skin when they eat meat or chicken. Also, women are more likely to drink low fat/ skimmed milk compared to men, and meet the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables[2].  So men just often don’t get it when it comes to eating fruits and vegetables!

6.         Secondly, we are doing quite well on the smoking front too: Less than 5% of our female population are daily smokers. Daily smoking is more prevalent in younger adults (18-39 year olds), and this is something that the Ministry of Health and HPB are working hard to address. The top reason given for smoking is “stress relief”[3]. Today’s symposium will teach us better alternatives to manage our stress. Thirdly, women are more proactive in screening for important diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, with 60% or more attending screening regularly according to stipulated guidelines. That said, we are aiming for even better improvements in screening coverage, especially for women aged 40 and above.

7.         The weak link in women is in the area of physical activity, which is exercise: we are significantly less physically active than the men: a recent survey in 2010 showed that more than 60% (60.9%) of women aged 18-69 did not exercise during their leisure time (compared to 47% in men), mainly because they either had no time due to work, or family commitments. Understandably, in this day and age, as women, we are juggling between our many roles as mummy, wife, daughter, employee, driver, and so on. But some women are more successful in maintaining that much needed balance than others. How do they do it? I think it is often the discipline and determination.

8.         I’m not saying for one moment that it is easy to find this balance. However, what I will say is that our society is moving towards a more enlightened health-consciousness. We are fortunate in Singapore because we see all around us an environment that supports healthy lifestyle options: From the beautifully landscaped parks and their park connectors, covered walkways to encourage walking in all weathers, to healthy hawkers, health promoting Residents’ Committee corners, and even Health promoting malls e.g. Vivocity offering mall walk as a form of exercise. In short, primary prevention activities are now easily available and ever-present wherever we are. Instead of taking the lift, take the stairs.

9.         We are also gaining momentum in our screening initiatives. For example, it is now more convenient for women to undergo health screening through a new “one-stop” Enhanced Integrated Screening for cancers and chronic diseases at community venues. Women are assessed based on their age and risk profile and encouraged to go for the appropriate screening tests. Also in the pipeline is the Women’s Health Advisory Committee, which I will be chairing. This Committee will help HPB plan and implement a holistic Women’s Health Programme that will equip women of all ages with the necessary knowledge and skills to improve their health.

10.       In the meantime, the symposium this afternoon is a great opportunity for all of us to gain valuable insight on the wide range of topics ranging from understanding our risk factors, to the amount of exercise we need, and how stress and lifestyle choices can affect our hearts. I believe there will also be a Q&A session at the end, where the panel of experts will address any queries or doubts.

11.       With this in mind, let us celebrate the energy, passion and power we have as women. When we return home, and back to our offices, let us use what we have learnt to day, and put them into action! For ourselves, our families and our friends!

Have a most fruitful symposium!

Thank you.

[1] Registry of Births & Deaths, 2010

[2] National Health Surveillance Survey 2007

[3] National Health Survey 2010