PLANS TO ENHANCE EMBRACE PROGRAMME TO MITIGATE ANTE- AND POST-NATAL MENTAL HEALTH DEPRESSION FOR MOTHERS

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1135

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 04 JULY 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Wan Rizal

MP for Jalan Besar GRC

Question No. 1809

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Child and Maternal Health and Well-being Taskforce has plans to enhance the EMBRACE programme to mitigate ante-natal and post-natal mental health depression for mothers; and (b) if so, what are they.

Answer

The EMBRACE programme, which was piloted at Yishun Polyclinic since September 2020, offers integrated services for the mother and child dyad during the same visit to the polyclinic. This includes vaccination and childhood developmental screening for the child, and maternal health services which include post-natal depression screenings and management of gestational diabetes mellitus.

In view of the good results and positive feedback received on the mother-child dyad service model, the Child and Maternal Health and Well-being Taskforce has recommended that the mother-child dyad services be scaled up to 12 more polyclinics. In particular, the EMBRACE programme will be expanded to all existing NHGP Polyclinics to allow more mothers and their children to benefit from the programme.

In addition, we are also scaling up ante-natal and post-natal mental health screening for mothers and mothers-to-be at other relevant touchpoints like at KKH and NUH. Through these programmes, women who are at-risk of mental health depression could be identified early, and provided with early intervention and support during their pregnancy and transition to motherhood.