Your office could be Singapore's next big health intervention

Helping people become healthier when they work should be the next priority for Singapore public health.

- Teo Yik Ying

Picture two workers in Singapore. Both spend decades at their jobs, clocking long hours and juggling family responsibilities.

One reaches retirement overweight, diabetic, and exhausted, having skipped regular checkups and carried years of stress. The other leaves the workforce healthier than when they started, having benefitted from regular health screenings at work, subsidised healthy meals in the canteen, access to mental health support, and a workplace culture that valued rest and balance.

The difference between these two stories is not luck or genetics, but whether the workplace was intentionally designed to promote health and well-being.

This is precisely the opportunity before us. At the National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong declared that Singapore must aspire to be a “we-first” society, where institutions, businesses and communities pursue success together in ways that help all Singaporeans thrive. This vision reframes public policy around collective well-being as a core national priority.

In practice, this ethos already underpins several recent initiatives.

Age Well SG was launched as a coordinated strategy led by the Ministry of Health (MOH) alongside the ministries of National Development and Transport. It rethinks neighbourhoods, transport, and home environments through a whole-of-society lens that lets seniors live independently, stay socially connected, and receive care in the community.

Grow Well SG likewise brings together MOH with the ministries of Education and Social and Family Development to build healthy habits in children and adolescents, mobilising schools, preschools, health providers, and community partners.

Together with Healthier SG, these initiatives sketch a life course approach to health promotion and disease prevention, from the earliest years to the sunset years.