The Singapore success story

SINGAPORE is the best place in the world for a child to be born.

It has the lowest mortality rate - 2.5 per 1,000 births - for children under five years old in the world, according to the study published in the medical journal The Lancet. The study compared the mortality rates of children under five in 187 countries.

Figures for other developed countries like Britain and the United States stand at 5.3 and 6.7, respectively.

These figures stand in stark contrast to countries like Laos (68.3), China (15.4) and India (62.6).

Singapore has come a long way from 1960, when 34.9 babies in every 1,000 died before they were a year old. Singapore's success in sharply reducing the mortality rate in recent decades can be attributed to many factors.

A big plus has been the ability of the country to meet the basic needs of its population, which include good housing, clean water, proper sanitation services and other public health-care needs.

'Improved prenatal care, safe delivery practices and medical advancement are some of the immediate factors,' said Assistant Professor of Sociology Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan from the School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University.

Clinical Associate Professor Ong Hian Tat, a senior consultant at the University Children's Medical Institute, National University Hospital, mentioned breast-feeding and childhood screening programmes as factors in lowering the child mortality rate.

'Emphasis on the beneficial effects of breast-feeding has led to better nutrition provided for all the babies and infants.

'Nationwide childhood screening programmes have also allowed us to detect some of the childhood diseases early, resulting in better treatment outcomes,' he said.

Prof Bussarawan added that a decline in infant mortality rates was a good indicator of Singapore's socioeconomic development, access to health care and women's socioeconomic status.

And the focus on the less well-off has also paid off.

'Singapore is doing better than some other developed countries because we have our focus of giving optimal medical care to the less advantaged section of our population and we have quality and accessible subsidised perinatal and paediatric care,' said Associate Professor Tan Kok Hian.

He is the head of perinatal audit and epidemiology at KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

JANICE TAI (Straits Times)

New trials give hope to liver cancer patients

Singapore's drawing power for clinical trials give hope to several hundred liver cancer patients in the region, with the launch of three clinical trials this year.

New study links gene markers to heart disease

A Singaporean-led team of scientists from Cambridge University has achieved a breakthrough in linking a set of DNA markets found in humans to a person's increased propensity for heart disease.

By comparing tissues from a set of patients with healthy and disease-stricken hearts, the team led by Singaporean Roger Foo found that a specific region of the human DNA in people with sick hearts contained certain "marks", whereas the healthy hearts did not.

The finding could potentially lead to new ways of treating heart disease, as well as identify its links to factors such as diet and the environment, said Dr Foo.

The findings were published in the journal PLoS ONE this week.

The Straits Times (Jan 16, 2010)

Better way to treat paraneoplastic encephalitis

Singapore doctors have come up with a treatment approach for a rare condition associated with tumours in the ovary, and have recommended it as the way to go in a scientific journal.

Paraneoplastic encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain which sets in when an ovarian cancer triggers the patient's over-active immune system to attack the brain.

Doctors here recommended that chemotherapy be considered as one of the main treatments.

From treating five such cases here, they have found that chemotherapy seems to prevent the immune system from attacking the brain.

The Straits Times (Dec 31 09)

Hepatitis B Vaccination began in Singapore

Research in Singapore seeded a pioneering vaccination programme, supported by the World Health Organisation, which has spread successfully throughout the world.

The effort led to a drastic reduction of Hepatitis B Virus and Primary Liver Cancer, which it causes. It also identified how Singapore needed to change tack quickly to embrace higher technology, ahead of its competitors.

Source: The Straits Times (7 Nov 2009)