S'poreans Live Longer but Suffer 8 Years of Poor Health 

By Salma Khalik, The Straits Times

Singapore

December 3, 2007

If you needed another reason to lead a healthy lifestyle, here it is: A study shows that Singaporeans may be living longer now, but they are also sick for more years than people in some other countries. 
The main culprits are heart disease and stroke, cancer, diabetes and even mental illness. 

Now, the average Singapore woman should live to 81.8, but she will spend eight of those years ill or disabled. Men too will spend eight of their 78 years in poor health. 

So while Singapore does well on life expectancy charts, a different picture emerges when good health is tracked. 

The Ministry of Health study confirmed that a lot of suffering and premature deaths come from diseases that could be prevented - such as heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. Some cancers too could be caught early. 

The prevalence of such diseases also suggests that more should be done to tell people what they can do to save themselves from becoming ill, said Dr Lam Pin Min, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health. 

He called for more public education on how these ailments can be prevented, and screening to catch problems like diabetes and cancer early. 

He added: 'With early detection of diseases, prompt medical treatment can hopefully minimise illness and medical complications.' 

But health authorities can only do so much, argued unionist and Health GPC head Madam Halimah Yacob. People must take ownership of their health if they want to keep such illnesses at bay. 

Her advice: 'Go for regular screening, eat more vegetables, less salt and do more exercise. That could cut the number of years you suffer from ill health.' 

Dr Derrick Heng, deputy director of the Ministry of Health's non-communicable diseases branch said the study will guide the authorities on how to spend health resources. 

But though it 'shines the torch' on diseases that cause the most suffering, the ministry will have to see which actually benefit from preventive measures. 

The study will be repeated every three years, to track if the main causes of disability change, or are reduced, as the ministry puts in more effort to tackle them. 

A surprising finding was how mental disorders count as much as diabetes and stroke for the wasted years. Mental health is getting a boost as the ministry has committed $80 million over the next five years to improving it. 

Zooming in on problem areas could help Singapore catch up with countries that fare best - such as Japan, the top country in the world for long, healthy lives. 

Japanese women live an average of 77.7 years in good health, compared to only 71.3 years for women here. Japanese men have 72.3 years of good health, compared to 68.8 years for Singapore men. 

The ministry has already made the treatment and prevention of chronic disease a priority. People can now use money previously reserved for hospitalisation to treat diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and stroke. 

The intention is to treat those conditions early before complications set in. 

Unfortunately the programme has not been popular, said Madam Halimah. She suggested expanding the use of Medisave money to include an annual health check. 

Men should also take a leaf from their wives. 

Women all over the world live longer and healthier lives. The World Health Organisation (WHO) attributes it to their smoking less, exercising more and being more health conscious than men. As for Japan, its explanation is the low rate of cardiovascular diseases comes from their high-in-fish diets. 

Madam Halimah said: 'We should also start eating more fish and less meat.' 

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