Effectiveness of War Against Diabetes Effort

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1849  
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON OR AFTER 21 APRIL 2023

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan
MP for Pioneer 

Question No. 4425

To ask the Minister for Health since the declaration of war on diabetes in 2016, how successful has the fight against diabetes been in managing and reducing the number of diabetics in Singapore.

Written Answer

The War on Diabetes is a multi-year effort. With longer life expectancy and an ageing population, the prevalence of diabetes and number of diabetic can be expected to increase if nothing is done. Based on the National Population Health Survey, there was a slight decrease in the crude prevalence of diabetes in adults from 8.8% in 2017 to 8.5% in 2022. After adjusting for ageing effect in the population, a reduction in the age-standardised prevalence of diabetes from 7.8% in 2017 to 6.8% in 2022 was observed. These statistics suggest some progress in blunting a hitherto increasing trend. The Ministry of Health will continue our efforts in tackling diabetes and monitoring our progress.