Singapore's War on Diabetes - Take it Personally

One in three Singaporeans may develop diabetes in their lifetime.

Let that number sit for a moment.

Not one in twenty. Not one in ten. But one in three.

I have been a practising medical doctor in Singapore for over thirty years, and in the last 10 years focusing on prescribing and coaching people to use lifestyle habits changes to control and combat lifestyle-related chronic diseases such as diabetes.

And I see take this War on Diabetes declared by the Singapore government in 2016 very personally. I have never regarded this War on Diabetes as a government campaign only, I take it personally. I am just a medical doctor, not a politician, not a policy maker, and I am not on any government multi-agency War on Diabetes committees or taskforces, but I am still as passionate about doing what I can for this War on Diabetes in Singapore now as I was when it was first launched in 2016.

Because I want to do something to contribute to changing this worrying trajectory of 1 in 3 Singaporeans developing diabetes in their lifetime, I do not need any governmental nudging, schemes or support to do my part for it. I can and will do whatever I can, as a medical doctor, as a social media content creator, as a speaker at churches, companies and community groups to awaken people to take up this war on diabetes as a personal one. 

We must not depend on the government, even if the government is doing its part, to fight this war on diabetes.

I did this video for my new YouTube channel - The Habits Doctor Singapore, where I shared my thoughts on this war on diabetes, and why we must all start our own personal war on diabetes.

Watch the short video below, or read on.

Watch: Singapore Diabetes — Why This Must Be Your Personal War

Filmed at a Singapore hawker centre, Dr Chan shares why Singapore's war on diabetes must become a deeply personal one.

Singapore's War on Diabetes: Where Do We Stand?

It has been about 10 years since Singapore declared its War on Diabetes.

In the early years, we couldn't ignore The War on Diabetes even if we had wanted to, because the War on Diabetes was everywhere, advertisements in the mainstream and social media, on public buses, at bus stops, it was everywhere. There were War on Diabetes events too, organised by government as well as private organisations. There was no escaping it. 

But it has all quieten down, a lot. I think if I go around and survey young people, many would give me a "huh?" if I ask them about Singapore's War on Diabetes. 

But regardless of the official status of the War on Diabetes campaign today, but as a medical doctor who is passionate about helping patients with diabetes improve their lifestyle and eating habits as an integral part of their total effort to control and combat their diabetes, this war on diabetes has never stopped and can never stop.

Because regardless of whether the 2016 projection that one in three Singaporeans being at risk of developing diabetes in their lifetime changed or not, it is still something we cannot afford to let our guard down on. five, 

Diabetes in Singapore - The Bad News and the Good News About 

First, the bad news. Diabetes in Singapore is prevalent. And the consequences of poorly managed diabetes are far-reaching and devastating. Kidney failure. Blindness. Amputations. Heart disease. These are not rare complications. 

And here is the good news. 

Diabetes is a condition that is closely linked to and can be significantly moderated by lifestyle changes and improvement. So we are not helpless, we can do something about our own diabetes risk. We are in control of what we put on our plates. We are in control of whether we move our bodies regularly. We are in control of whether we add sugar to our coffee or not. We are in control of many things, even if we are not in control of everything, that matters when it comes to preventing, controlling and combating diabetes.

We are not sitting ducks when it comes to diabetes risk.

Why Your Personal War on Diabetes Matters More Than Any Government Campaign

Here is the something that I hope to share with every Singaporean as I can reach.

The risk of diabetes is a lifelong risk. Which means the war against it must also be a lifelong one. No government campaign can run at the same high intensity for a lifetime. But we as individuals can do that, and must.

The risk of diabetes is also a personal one. Our daily food choices. Our exercise habits. Government regulations or schemes may change what some hawkers offer on a small part of their menus, but it would not be able to change what we choose to order from them.

I am not saying government efforts do not matter. They do. But we cannot and must not wait for the government to regulate the hawkers, or for the Health Promotion Board to introduce a new scheme, before we start making better choices. We can start now. We can start today.

Even without any new policies or regulations, the choices are already there. At every hawker centre. At every kopitiam. Right now.

Changing Our Lifestyle Habits To Beat Diabetes: Simple Things Done Well Can Be Powerful Medicine.

We do not need to wait for a new national campaign. We do not need to wait for the hawkers to change their menus.

We can start with choosing better wherever possible, whenever possible.

When ordering our kopi (coffee), choosing dishes at Cai Fan stall (mixed rice stalls), when deciding whether to take the stairs or escalators at the MRT stations, they are opportunities for us to make simple but better choices that can compound together over time to help us beat diabetes. Simple things done well consistently persistently can be powerful medicine.

Have you started on your War on Diabetes?

I have a self-paced online learning programme on the essential basics of reversing diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes may be reversed for some, especially if appropriate lifestyle habits are made early enough.

And I am passionate about educating people with Type 2 diabetes about reversing diabetes and activating them to start taking action to improve their lifestyle habits to do so as early as possible, because the window to do so  is not open forever.

I created this comprehensive structured online learning programme to equip people with Type 2 diabetes with the essential basics they should know and understand about reversing diabetes. And once equipped with that, I hope they would then be better able to make informed decisions about reversing diabetes. 

You can find out more here: Reversing Type 2 Diabetes: Essential Basics by Dr Chan

Let Habits Be Your Medicine

Let's encourage and support one another to unlock the tremendous power of lifestyle and eating habits as medicine to beat diabetes and other lifestyle-related chronic diseases. 

Eat well. Be well. Be blessed.

Dr Chan Tat Hon

Related Reading on Singapore Diabetes and Lifestyle Habits

• Can Diabetes Be Reversed? Dr Chan Answers
• The Diabetes Reversal Webinar That Sowed a Seed
• Newly Diagnosed with Diabetes or other lifestyle-related chronic diseases? Three Things to Focus On.

Video Synopsis

In this video, filmed at a Singapore hawker centre, Dr Chan Tat Hon addresses one of the most important public health challenges in Singapore: the diabetes epidemic. Drawing on the Ministry of Health's projection that 1 in 3 Singaporeans may develop diabetes in their lifetime, Dr Chan reflects on the decade since Singapore declared its War on Diabetes, and makes the case that this war must now be fought at the individual, personal level. He explains why Singapore diabetes risk is both serious and addressable through lifestyle habits, uses the daily kopi order as a practical example of the power of small consistent choices, and calls on every Singaporean to declare their own personal war on diabetes, starting now.

Full Transcript

The following is the full transcript of the video above.

One in three people in Singapore are at risk of developing diabetes in their lifetime. And it need not be this way.

It should not be this way. It must not be this way. We must do something about it. And we can do something about it.

I think it has been 10 years since the Singapore government declared the war on diabetes. Are we still at war? Have we won the war? Or have we given up on the war on diabetes?

If you base the answer of that on what we see around us, most people will assume that Singapore's war on diabetes is already over or at least not an active war anymore, because we no longer see much advertising on social media, at the bus stops, on buses, or having events about this war on diabetes anymore, compared to the early years of Singapore's war on diabetes.

I do not know what is the official status of this war on diabetes campaign, but to me, at least at the individual personal level, we cannot and must not stop this war on diabetes. Because it is a lifelong war. Because the risk of diabetes is a lifelong one. The war against it must therefore also be a lifelong one. And the risk of diabetes is a personal one. Therefore, this war on diabetes is not a governmental one. It must be a personal one as well. Our personal war against diabetes.

Hello. For those who do not know me, I am Dr Chan and I am passionate about encouraging, educating, and coaching people to use the power of their lifestyle habits to prevent and combat lifestyle-related chronic diseases such as diabetes.

We are all at risk of developing diabetes in our lifetime. The risk is not low. Ten years ago, Singapore's Ministry of Health projected that as many as one in three Singaporeans are at risk of developing diabetes in their lifetime. I do not know what is the latest or current projection, whether it is still one in three. But it almost does not matter. Because whether it is one in three, one in four, or one in five, it is still high. And we must do something about it.

So that is the bad news. We are all at risk. We are all at high risk. One in three of us may develop diabetes in our lifetime.

But the good news is that diabetes is a condition closely related to and significantly affected by our lifestyle. And we are in control of our lifestyle. We are in control of what we choose to put onto our plates, whether we choose to exercise regularly or not. We are in control whether to choose to add sugar in our coffee or not. We are not sitting ducks. We should not be sitting ducks when it comes to diabetes risk. Even though the risks are high, we can be proactive. We can be proactive to change and lower that risk significantly.

We should all be declaring war on diabetes individually and not rely on the government, the Ministry, or the Health Promotion Board. We should not and need not depend on the government to regulate and control the hawkers, like in this hawker centre that I am at now.

Even without any government measures or policies or regulations, we can already make better choices at hawker centres. Regardless of that, the choices at hawker centres may not be the best, the most healthy, but we certainly can still make better choices.

For example, when ordering coffee: kopi-O kosong. I know that local kopi uses sugar and butter in roasting the beans. It is not the best choice. It is not the healthiest choice. But still we can make it better to some degree by choosing not to add sugar. Go kopi-O kosong. This might seem like a small thing, how much sugar you put into your coffee habitually. But this is just an example of how much each of us can do better in our respective personal war on diabetes.

It may seem small. It may seem simple. But small and simple things done well can be powerful medicine. So many aspects of our lifestyle habits that we still have room for improvement, still have room to do better. So let us do better. Let us choose better.

The risk of diabetes is a lifelong one. The war against it must therefore be a lifelong one as well. And the risk of diabetes is a personal one. Therefore, the war on diabetes must also be a personal one as well.

Have you started on your personal war on diabetes? Let us encourage one another. Let us motivate one another. Let us support one another in our respective personal war on diabetes.

Start now. Start today.

I am Dr Chan. Let habits be your medicine. Eat well. Be well. Kopi-O.

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