Health in Singapore

[3] A new measure of expected human capital calculated for 195 countries from 1990 to 2016 and defined for each birth cohort as the expected years lived from age 20 to 64 years and adjusted for educational attainment, learning or education quality, and functional health status was published by the Lancet in September 2018.

This general slow-down can be explained by the ‘demographic-gift’, term defined by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) according to which increases in income, education and health and the changing role of women in the workforce were strongly connected to levels of low fertility rate.

The Age dependency ratio in Singapore was reported at 37.98% in 2016, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, and is expected to reach 36.3% by 2030 and 60.6% by 2050.

[15] From 1980 to 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) measured females malnutrition based on body mass index (BMI).

[14] WHO indicates that being overweight is a "major determinant of many non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, coronary heart diseases and stroke," along with many other health consequences.

[17] Owing to its tropical climate, Singapore is a highly-endemic area for dengue, and experiences 20–330 cases per 100,000 people each year, depending on the severity of outbreaks, with higher rates of transmission in the September to February rainy season.

[21] Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) has incorporated the use of sophisticated machine learning techniques in dengue forecasting.

The Environmental Health Institute (EHI) of the NEA uses a model incorporating Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) methods in predictive outbreak forecasting, integrating population, meteorological, and vector surveillance data-based variables with epidemiological case report data collected through the Singaporean Ministry of Health and updated weekly to produce nationwide forecasts up to 3 months in advance.

This prediction enabled better planning of resource and medical care allocation, including an early launch of a government-led public health education campaign two months earlier than scheduled to more effectively preempt the outbreak.

[24] Annually from May to October, Singapore experiences a smoke haze which can cause or worsen pre-existing health issues.

[25] The haze is largely caused by, "winds bringing in tiny particles of ash," from the burning of forestry in Indonesia, the neighbouring country.

[25] Additionally, individuals may experience irritation of the eyes, nose and throat if exposed to an excess amount of the haze.

[27] Continuous exposure to these air pollutants can "cause respiratory symptoms and aggravate existing heart or lung disease".