HEALTH IS ALSO SOCIAL; PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE
So how do we turn off the tap, or at least slow down the flow? Health is increasingly social, and mental health is a good case study for how risk factors, preventive actions and treatment have a strong social component.
Singapore’s Inter-agency Taskforce on Mental Health and Well-being is co-led by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social and Family Development to better enable the task force to better address these issues more holistically. Other countries like Japan, Netherlands and Sweden also acknowledge the strong synergy between health and social, and have taken a different approach to sit health and social together under one ministry.
Given that much more will be done and committed to improve capacity and resources for mental health services – what would the next steps be for Singapore to improve the mental health of its people?
The adage “prevention is better than cure” comes to mind and Den Heijer’s quote to consider the environment is helpful. To do that, health and social programmes and policies need to be reviewed, researched and considered more holistically. We need to discover new ways to turn off the tap, or at least slow down the flow.
Dr Clive Tan is an Assistant Professor with the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and an Assistant Chief at the National Healthcare Group, working on population health, programmes and policies.