Diabetes in Singapore

This article provides an overview of diabetes in Singapore, including its prevalence, risk factors, and impact on health. It discusses the need for health promotion campaigns to address the problem and suggests using social media as a platform for education and awareness. The article also highlights the five components of the Ottawa Charter for health promotion and how they can be applied to prevent diabetes in Singapore. Study materials and assignments on diabetes in Singapore are available at Desklib.

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Diabetes in Singapore
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Explanation and definition of health priority
Diabetes is a condition where either the kidneys does not produce insulin or the body is
insensitive to insulin. There are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The risk factors
for diabetes include genetics, environmental factors and obesity. It is one of the leading causes of
death in Singapore with studies noting that 3.3% of deaths in 2006 was as a result of diabetes.
This rates are expected to double by 2030 (Talaei, Pan, Yuan, & Koh, 2018). This facts are
significant and it is therefore important that different stakeholders come up with health
promotion plans to address diabetes in Singapore.
Relevance of the diabetes to current health priority
Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in Singapore. A recent report published by
the Ministry of health in Singapore indicate that it is the 10th leading cause of death in the
country with over 400,000 youths dying in 2012. The World Health Organization on the other
hand report that 346,000,000 people are suffering from diabetes worldwide (Zainudin, Ang, &
Soh, 2017). This facts and figures are significant and there is the need for health promotion to
reduce this rates.
The target group
The rate of diabetes among adults in Singapore has increased from 8.6% to 11.3% in
2015 (Zainudin, Ang, & Soh, 2017). Studies show that childhood obesity is likely to progress
even in adulthood. The health promotion plan will therefore target children or youths between 12
and 20 years in order to address diabetes in future.

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Overview of key debates and issues around diabetes in Singapore
There are several issues surrounding diabetes in Singapore. Recent reports suggest that a
third of the population in the country is likely to experience diabetes in their lifetime. This
disease costs the government approximately $1 billion a year (Zainudin, Ang, & Soh, 2017). The
Government has therefore launched the war on the disease. However, the key debate is how to
address the problem. While a section of stakeholders feel that it should target the children, others
feel that it should target adults since they are the most affected.
Health determinants of diabetes
Social determinants such as income, education, housing and access to nutritious food
determines the rate of diabetes in Singapore. Studies elaborate that access to healthy foods
reduce diabetes. Same to education and income. In order to address or prevent diabetes, it is
therefore important to address such determinants of diabetes.
How dimensions/elements of wellbeing are affected
Diabetes has different effects on the well-being of patients. It leads to psychosocial
problems due to the stress that is associated with diabetes (Subramaniam et al., 2019).
Furthermore, amputation of the lower limbs also means that individuals cannot engage in daily
activities.
Suggestions and discussion around health promotion
Since studies suggest that diabetes develops from childhood, this health promotion plan
seeks to address the problem among the youths. Studies elaborate that majority of the youths
have access to internet and social media (Siaw, Tai, & Lee, 2016). Using this approach therefore

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means that information will reach a large population within a short period of time. Social media
will be used to provide education about the risk factors, consequences and management of
diabetes. It is expected that after 8 months of the health promotion campaign, the rate of diabetes
among youths will decline and this is likely to be reflected among adults in the future.
Seligman, positive psychology
Positive psychology is concerned with three basic issues. They include positive emotions,
individual traits and institutions. The social media campaign will thus focus on ensuring that
individuals are contended with their past, are happy for the present and they have hope in the
future (Shuyu Ng, Toh, Ko, & Yu-Chia Lee, 2015). Furthermore, it will seek to bolster
individual traits such as reducing smoking and eating unhealthy foods. Finally, the program will
seek to create positive institutions that are ready to incorporate the fight against diabetes among
youths in Singapore.
Five areas of the Ottawa charter
The Ottawa charter is basically a framework that guides the process of health promotion.
There are five basic components or requirements of a good health promotion (Png, Yoong, Phan,
& Wee, 2016). They include building health public policy, creating supportive environment,
strengthening community actions, developing personal skills and finally reorienting health
services.
Use of social media campaign to prevent diabetes is no exception health promotion and
should also incorporate the five action plans from the Ottawa Charter. Building Healthy Public
Policy is the first health promotion action. During the Ottawa charter, there was an agreement
that health promotion is beyond healthcare. Furthermore, health promotion should be the agenda

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of all policy makers (Pan, Teng, Yuan, & Koh, 2016). There is also the need for complementary
measures such as legislation, fiscal measures, taxation and finally organizational changes. In the
case of using social media to address the problem of diabetes in Singapore, legislatures should
support the move and this includes improved funding and even increased tax so as to generate
revenue and implement or support the health promotion plan. Furthermore, necessary obstacles
in adoption of social media campaigns should be identified and eliminated to make healthier
choices.
The Ottawa charter advocates for creating supportive environments. The society we live
is complex and interrelated in many aspects. It is impossible to separate health from other goals.
According to studies, a change in work and leisure could have a significant impact on health.
Other studies argue that lack of physical activities is one reason that the rate of diabetes is high
among youths in Singapore (Nanditha et al., 2016). This is attributed to many hours spent in
school and classrooms. The Ottawa chatter argues that work and leisure should be a source of
health for communities. This health promotion plan will therefore seek to advocate for changes
in work, leisure and school patterns to assist youths engage in physical activities to lower the rate
of diabetes in the country.
Another component of the Ottawa charter on health promotion is strengthening
community actions. A good health promotion should provide continuous access to information
within communities. The social media campaign should implement activities such as health diets
and regular physical exercise to ensure that the communities are not at risk of diabetes.
Develop personal skills is another agenda of a health promotion plan. According to the
Ottawa Charter, the aim of a health promotion plan is to offer more options for individuals to
exert more control over their health and environments and to make healthy choices regarding

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their health (Low et al., 2016). This is only possible by supporting personal and social
development by offering information, education for health and then enhancing life skills. This is
what the social media campaign health promotion will be targeting. The strategy would provide
more information and education to the youths so that they have many options to make healthy
choices. Furthermore, the social media health promotion would provide life skills such as healthy
eating and regular exercise in order to reduce the rate of diabetes among youths in Singapore.
Reorienting health services is the final action plan under the Ottawa charter. During the
Ottawa charter, it was agreed upon that intervention alone is not effective in the pursuit of health.
It is also imperative that there is collective efforts among individuals, community groups, health
professionals and even health institutions and respective governments. Furthermore, it is
necessary that health services embrace the diverse cultural needs of individuals and communities
(Goh, Pan, Chow, Yuan, & Koh, 2016). Use of social media is one strategy that can be used to
achieve reorienting of health services. This is due to the fact that social media can be used by
both communities, health professionals and even the government. All that is supposed to be done
is to create a social page and then get endorsement from the above mentioned group of people or
stakeholders.
Critical analysis for the need of increased promotion in diabetes
With increasing trends of diabetes in Singapore, there is the need for health campaigns
using the social media to address the problem. Diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes if not
checked well, progress to severe complications such as blindness. In severe cases amputation of
the lower limb follows up as well as heart attacks and even stroke. Other studies have reported
kidney failure and psychosocial problems among patients and their family members.

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Type 2 diabetes mainly occurs in adults and is mostly due to obesity. It persists from
childhood and that is why the health promotion will target the youths. The WHO report that
nearly one hundred and eighty million people are suffering from diabetes and they are expected
to be twice the number by 2030. In 2006, diabetes was the 7th cause of mortality contributing to
deaths in the country. This translates to around 3.3% (Chua et al., 2017). The National Health
Survey reported that there was a sharp increase of diabetes in different age groups. It is for this
reason that necessitates health promotion. Social media has been used successfully in countries
like USA where the prevalence of diabetes reduced from 14% to 8% among adults (Ang, Yap,
Saxena, Lin, & Heng, 2016). It is therefore imperative that necessary stakeholders work together
to eliminate diabetes through health promotion.

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