02/10/2025
✨ At the start of August, SCOPH hosted Public Health Symposium 2025!
For the second iteration of this event, we welcomed eighty pre-university students 🎓 from a variety of institutions, including junior colleges, polytechnics, and secondary schools from 2nd to 3rd August.
Themed “Grey Matters: Preparing Vulnerable Populations for a Healthier Tomorrow”, our programme enabled participants to gain a deeper insight into Singapore’s public health landscape 🌏🏥
📌 Day 1:
💡 After Mattias’ opening address, our morning Track 1: “Innovations in Healthcare” featured an inspiring sharing by Ms Chew Hui En (MOHT) 🎤. This was followed by a vibrant panel discussion 💬 with Ms Wong Suat Li (NHG Health), Mr Aloysius Tan (VintageRadio), Dr Foo Fung Fong (Filos Community Services), and Dr Zoe Hildon (NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health), moderated by Dr Tan Weng Mooi (MOHT) and Huan Yu.
👵 Track 2: “Ageing Population” was helmed by Dr Vanda Ho (Consultant, NUH Geriatric Medicine), who shed light on the challenges and opportunities of caring for Singapore’s rapidly ageing population.
🍴 After lunch, participants rotated through hands-on activity blocks ✍️ led by our facilitators, including history taking 🩺, types of anaemia 🩸, lab tests & scans 🔬, and public health policymaking 📑
📌 Day 2:
🩹 The second day focused on Track 3: “Healthcare for Vulnerable Populations”, with Dr Halina Talib (MOM ACE) as our distinguished speaker. During a health screening session for Singapore’s migrant workers organised by Migrant Health Matters, our participants directly engaged with beneficiaries by putting their new skills into practice 💪 — from taking vitals 🫀 to conducting blood glucose tests 💉.
🫶 This firsthand experience allowed participants to better understand migrant workers’ barriers to accessing healthcare and their daily struggles, inspiring them to become more empathetic members of the community.
🙏 A huge thank you to our speakers, facilitators, and community partners for making this event possible, and to our participants for their enthusiastic participation throughout the weekend ☺️
Signing off,
Huan Yu, Xinyu, and Mattias
SCOPH 24/25 🧡
