6 in 10 Singaporeans with Diabetes Have Poor Blood Sugar Control

Six out of every ten Singaporeans living with diabetes have poor blood sugar control.

Not six out of a hundred. Six out of ten.

That figure comes from Singapore's own National Population Health Survey 2024, published by the Ministry of Health. It is not an estimate from a foreign study or a projection from a decade ago. It is current data about what is actually happening to people with diabetes in Singapore right now.

I find this deeply concerning. And I want to speak directly to those of you who have diabetes and may be among those six in ten.

Watch the episode below, or read on.

6 in 10 Singaporeans with Diabetes Have Poor Blood Sugar Control | Kopi-O Kosong with Dr Chan

What Does "Poor Blood Sugar Control" Actually Mean?

When we say a person with diabetes has poor blood sugar control, we mean their blood sugar levels are consistently above the targets set to minimise the risk of diabetes complications.

The most commonly used measure is HbA1c. Your HbA1c reflects your average blood sugar level over approximately three months. Your doctor sets a target HbA1c level for you based on your individual situation. If you are not consistently meeting that target, your diabetes is not being adequately controlled.

This matters because poorly controlled diabetes does not just mean higher blood sugar numbers on a report. It means a meaningfully higher risk of serious complications over time. Stroke. Heart attack. Blindness. Kidney failure. Nerve damage leading to amputation.

These are not rare outcomes for people with chronically poor diabetes blood sugar control in Singapore. I have seen them. My patients have lived through them. And many of them came to me with the same regret: that they did not act sooner, when the window was still wide open.

Why Is Diabetes Blood Sugar Control So Poor in Singapore?

This is the question that keeps me up at night.

Singapore has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. The government declared a War on Diabetes in 2016 and has invested millions of dollars in awareness campaigns, community programmes, and clinical intervention initiatives. Singapore was even recognised as a Blue Zone, one of only six places in the world where people live longer and healthier lives.

And yet, 60% of people with diabetes here still cannot meet their blood sugar control targets.

The survey data goes deeper and becomes more alarming. Among Singaporeans in their 30s already diagnosed with diabetes, more than 80% did not meet blood sugar control targets. And among those with secondary or post-secondary education, almost 70% failed to meet targets, compared to about 60% among those with primary education.

Read that again. The more educated Singaporeans with diabetes performed worse, not better, in blood sugar control.

So we cannot blame lack of awareness. We cannot blame lack of government effort. We cannot blame lack of access to healthcare. Something else is happening. And I believe it comes down to this: information is not the same as activation. Knowing about diabetes is not the same as doing something about it, consistently, sustainably, for life.

Four Things I Want Every Singaporean with Diabetes to Know

If you have diabetes, and especially if your blood sugar control is not where it should be, I want to speak directly to you now.

Number one: the complications of poorly controlled diabetes are serious.

Stroke, heart attack, blindness, kidney failure. These are not minor inconveniences. They can take away years from your life and life from your years. They happen to real people in Singapore. They are happening now to some of those six in ten. Do not let this be you.

Number two: these complications are not inevitable.

They can be prevented, or at least significantly delayed and reduced, even if they do eventually happen. Poor blood sugar control is not a life sentence. It is a signal that something needs to change. And change is possible.

Number three: know your HbA1c target and work toward it.

If you are not sure what your HbA1c target is, ask your doctor at your next visit. Have a direct conversation. "What is my HbA1c target? How am I currently performing against it? What should I be doing differently?" These are the right questions to ask. Your doctor wants you to ask them.

Number four: lifestyle and eating habits change must be the cornerstone of your effort.

When it comes to combating diabetes, lifestyle and eating habits optimisation must be a major pillar of your defense against the complications of diabetes. But you must work closely with your doctor, do not stop or reduce your medication without consulting your doctor.

But you must fully optimise all aspects of your lifestyle. Your eating habits. Your movement. Your sleep. Your stress. These you must do, regardless of whether the medications you have been prescribed are already helping you to achieve your blood sugar control targets or not. Lifestyle and eating habits changes and improvements are a Must-Do, regardless.

If You Have Diabetes, The Window Will Not Stay Open Forever

I want to close with something I say often to my patients, and I mean it every time.

Type 2 diabetes is potentially reversible. Not for everyone, and not at every stage. But for many people, especially those who act early enough to fully optimise all aspects of their lifestyle and eating habits appropriately, adequately, and sustainably. 

But the window to reverse Type 2 diabetes does not remain open forever. No one can foretell when it will fully closely, but we know the window to reverse Type 2 diabetes does not remain open indefinitely.

So do not wait. Start learning. Start taking action to improve your lifestyle and eating habits to the best of your ability.

Learning About Reversing Type 2 Diabetes

If you have diabetes and are not as equipped with the essential foundational knowledge about reversing Type 2 diabetes as you should be, I have a structured online learning programme that you might find very useful. You can find out more through the link below.

Find out more about the Reversing Type 2 Diabetes: Essential Basics - Structured Online Learning Programme Here

Related Reading

• Singapore's War on Diabetes: Why This Must Be Your Personal War
• Can Singapore Hawker Food Be Food as Medicine for Diabetes?
• Can Type 2 Diabetes Be Reversed? Dr Chan Answers
• Stress and Diabetes: The Vicious Cycle You Need to Break
• Reversing Type 2 Diabetes: Essential Basics - Structured Online Learning Programme by Dr Chan

About Dr Chan Tat Hon

Dr Chan graduated from the National University of Singapore medical school in 1992. For the last ten years, his work has focused on lifestyle medicine. He works with healthcare and corporate organisations to design and deliver lifestyle behaviour change programmes, train health coaches and build communities engaged in cultivating healthy behaviours to combat diseases.

He also provides training and coaching to individuals with diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases and other lifestyle-related chronic diseases through 1-1 personalised coaching, live webinars, and online courses.

• 1-1 Personalised Coaching with Dr Chan
• Online Courses and Programmes by Dr Chan
• Reversing Type 2 Diabetes: Essential Basics Online Programme

Video Synopsis

In this episode of Kopi-O Kosong with Dr Chan, Dr Chan Tat Hon responds to a deeply concerning finding from Singapore's National Population Health Survey 2024: that 6 in 10 Singaporeans living with diabetes have poor blood sugar control and are not meeting their targeted HbA1c levels. Dr Chan explores why this is happening despite Singapore's world-class healthcare system and decade-long War on Diabetes, and speaks directly to Singaporeans with diabetes with four things they must know and act on. The episode closes with an important reminder that Type 2 diabetes is potentially reversible for those who act early, holistically, and sustainably.

Full Transcript

The following is the full transcript of the video above.

Most Singaporeans with diabetes have poor blood sugar control.

A 2025 survey showed that six out of every 10 persons with diabetes in Singapore have unsatisfactory blood sugar control. That means 60% of diabetics in Singapore are at clearly higher risk of having their diabetes progress over time in terms of both severity and diabetes complications.

Very concerning indeed. And if you have diabetes, and if you are listening to this, and if you are one of those six in 10 Singaporeans who do not meet targeted blood sugar control levels, I want to encourage you not to ignore it. You must do something about it.

You can do something about it. And specifically, there are four things that I want to highlight to you at the end of this podcast. Welcome to another episode of Kopi-O Kosong with Dr Chan. And in this episode, I want to highlight this very concerning statistic buried in the National Population Health Survey 2024, published by Singapore's Ministry of Health, that more than 60% of people with diabetes in Singapore are walking around with poorly controlled blood sugar levels, not meeting the targeted blood sugar levels, which are levels deemed to be necessary to help minimize diabetes progression and complications.

Why?

It cannot be due to the lack of trying.

Singapore has tried very hard. It has been 10 years since the Singapore government declared war on diabetes. Millions of dollars have gone into awareness campaigns, community programs, and intervention initiatives. And yet, six out of 10 persons with diabetes still do not even meet the targeted blood sugar control levels needed to minimize diabetes progression and complications.

Singapore has one of the best healthcare systems in the entire world. Singapore was even declared a blue zone a few years ago, one of only six blue zones in the world where people live longer and healthier lives. And yet, six out of 10 persons with diabetes in Singapore still have poor blood sugar control levels.

So we cannot blame it on the lack of effort or investment by the authorities. The Singapore government has done more than any, or at least most other governments in the entire world to raise awareness, to improve education, and to provide services, both clinical services and other support programs for people with diabetes.

And yet, six out of 10 persons with diabetes in Singapore still fail to meet blood sugar control targets. And when we dive further into the survey findings, amongst those already known to have diabetes, people in their 30s perform the worst in terms of blood sugar control. More than 80% of them did not meet blood sugar control targets. And among those with secondary or post-secondary education, almost 70% failed to meet blood sugar control targets, compared to about 60% among those with primary education.

So we cannot blame the lack of education. In fact, the survey showed that the more educated ones performed worse. I am very concerned about this. But why am I concerned? I am not a politician with responsibility for people's health, neither am I a senior civil servant tasked with leading Singapore's war on diabetes. I am merely a medical doctor who has spent the past 10 over years deeply involved in the front lines of training and coaching people with lifestyle-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, to use lifestyle and eating habits changes and improvement to better control, to reverse, to combat their conditions.

I'm therefore concerned because I know what poor blood sugar control for people means, what the serious implications are. I have had many patients sharing with me their regrets of not making the effort to improve their blood sugar control much earlier in their lives, and only waking up to do something about it only when complications such as blindness or kidney failure began to set in.

I've seen the devastations of diabetes complications on the lives of many, all contributed significantly by poor blood sugar control over a long period of time.

It need not be this way. It should not be this way. And if I can help it, and if I can help just one person with diabetes become more activated, more motivated to do something about it, to do what they can, whether through better medications compliance or targeted lifestyle and eating habits improvement, or both. If I can do something to help just one person with diabetes, I would.

So now, let me speak directly to those of you who have diabetes and listening to this now. Four things that I would like to emphasize to you.

Number one, the complications of diabetes are many and can be very serious, including stroke, heart attack, blindness, kidney failure. They can potentially take away years from your life and life from your years.

Number two, these serious complications are not inevitable. They can be prevented or at least delayed or reduced to some degree, even if they do eventually happen.

Number three, one of the things that you can do is to consistently meet the blood sugar control targets set by your doctor. There are many blood sugar measurements that your doctor may monitor for you. Amongst them, HbA1c is the most commonly used measurement as the blood sugar control target. If you're not sure what that is or what target level your doctor has set for you, consult your doctor the next time. Have a discussion about it at your next regular follow-up.

Number four. Before I go into number four, let me highlight that you must always work closely with your doctor, especially if you are prescribed diabetes medications. Do not stop or reduce your medications without consulting your doctor. Okay, now back to number four, which is that lifestyle and eating habits change and improvement must be the cornerstone of what you do to improve your blood sugar control, to meet your blood sugar control target.

And you should aim to do it holistically and sustainably, and not through some kind of twenty-three days special juicing program or ninety-day supplements plus special diet regime that promoters promise will help you control your blood sugar better. Don't be distracted by those special diets or hacks, but focus fully on making targeted and comprehensive lifestyle and eating habits change that are sustainable forever, for life.

Because your personal war on diabetes is going to be for forever, not merely a twenty-three day or ninety-day campaign. So those are the four things that I hope you would take away if you have diabetes and if you are not controlling your blood sugar level well.

Number one, diabetes complications are not minor inconveniences. They can take away health and life. Number two, you can and should minimize your risk of diabetes complications. Number three, one of the most important things to do to minimize diabetes complications risk is to meet your targeted blood sugar control levels consistently. And lastly, number four, holistic, comprehensive, and sustainable lifestyle and eating habits change and improvement must be the cornerstone of your endeavor to achieve good blood sugar control.

Changing lifestyle and eating habits is never easy, but it is entirely possible and totally life-changing. Get help if you need. Work with a lifestyle medicine focused medical doctor to coach you, or join some kind of support programs. Do whatever you are willing and able to, to consistently achieve your blood sugar control targets because it matters.

And I would also like to highlight something very important to every person with type 2 diabetes, that type 2 diabetes is potentially reversible if lifestyle and eating habits changes are made early enough, appropriately, adequately, and sustainably. I have a structured online learning program called Reversing Type 2 Diabetes, The Essential Basics that I developed to help people with type 2 diabetes equip themselves with the must-know foundational knowledge of reversing type 2 diabetes.

If you are keen to find out more, the link should be somewhere in the description or notes of this episode, depending on where you are watching or listening to this podcast. Or go to my websites, thehabitsdoctor.com or thehabitspharmacy.com. You should find the info there. I hope you have enjoyed this podcast episode of Kopi-O Kosong with Dr Chan and found it useful. Let your habits be your medicine to combat lifestyle related chronic diseases such as diabetes.

See you at the next episode, and until then, eat well and be well.

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