SPEECH BY DR AMY KHOR, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT & WATER RESOURCES AND MINISTRY OF HEALTH, AT THE LIFELONG LIVING CONFERENCE, 30 MAY 2019, 9:00AM AT PARKROYAL ON PICKERING

Your Excellency Ambassador Dorte Bech Vizard

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. Good morning. It is indeed a great pleasure to join you at the Lifelong Living Conference.

Singapore-Denmark Relations

2. Singapore and Denmark have a longstanding friendship, underpinned by more than a hundred and seventy years of economic ties, cooperation on international issues and exchange of ideas. In 2017, Denmark’s Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen (lars lo-ke ras-muse-sen), made his first official visit to Singapore. My colleagues, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo have also visited Denmark recently to discuss the social transformations in our societies, and in particular, ageing.

3. Today, our dialogue is centred around Lifelong Living – not just how long we live, but how well we live. How can we transform the lived experience of seniors in our society, and enable them to age well in their silver years?

Action Plan for Successful Ageing

4. Singapore’s efforts are encapsulated in the Action Plan for Successful Ageing, launched by the Government in 2015 to create Opportunities for All Ages, a Kampong for All Ages, and a City for all Ages.

Kampong means village in the Malay language, and represents community. Every senior should have opportunities to stay active and engaged, be part of a caring and inclusive society, and live well in a city where they can age gracefully and confidently in place.

5. While we have made significant strides, planning to age well is a continual journey. Future cohorts of seniors will be different from the seniors of today. They will live longer, be better educated, have different interests and relationships, and are increasingly tech-savvy. How will we, as a society, meet these changing needs and aspirations?

6. This is why we are currently working to enhance the Action Plan to go beyond a whole-of-government effort towards a whole-of-society approach. We need to rally Singaporeans from all walks of life, across various sectors, to build a Nation for All Ages. MOH will conduct a public consultation later this year with various stakeholders, including our seniors, community and business partners, to co-develop this updated Action Plan.

Activating Our Citizens and Community

7. As we innovate, we must continue to build on what we have done. First, we must strengthen what our citizens and community can do. Central to community outreach and participation is our Silver Generation Office, and its network of about 3,000 volunteer Silver Generation Ambassadors. These volunteers go door to door to understand the needs of our seniors, connect those who need help to different agencies, and communicate government policies. These relationships enable informal, two-way conversations, and encourage our seniors to participate in preventive health and active ageing programmes in their neighbourhoods. Since 2014, Silver Generation Ambassadors have made more than one million home visits, and reached out to more than 450,000 seniors. Many of these volunteers are seniors themselves. From April this year our Silver Generation Ambassadors have also started engaging the Merdeka Generation Seniors, and till date they have reached out to nearly 40,000 MGs.

8. Our seniors also play crucial roles at home, at work and in the community. We often forget how much our seniors can do, and many have rediscovered their passion to give back. We need to support them in this journey, to help them find roles that give them continued meaning and purpose in this phase of life. We must champion active contribution, harness their social and economic potential, and celebrate their contributions to society.

9. Caregivers of seniors are also vital in ensuring that their loved ones live well in the community. With one in four Singaporeans being above the age of 65 by 2030, our caregivers will play increasingly important roles in enabling our seniors to age gracefully in their homes where they are comfortable and familiar. To better support their needs, the government recently launched the Caregiver Support Action Plan, which lays out key initiatives to improve care navigation in the community, provide financial and workplace support, improve respite options, and support caregivers with their socio-emotional needs. It takes all segments of society to embrace our caregivers, and all of us can play our part to empower them to support their loved ones.

Enabling New Partnerships and Models of Care

10. Second, we must enable deeper cross-sector partnerships and models of care. We are working hand in hand with the private sector to bring preventive health services to our seniors to enhance their quality of life. Project Silver Screen is a partnership between the Ministry of Health and Temasek Foundation Cares to enable early detection of functional decline in vision, hearing and oral health, and timely access to follow-up care services for those with abnormal screening results. Many corporate partners have also provided funding support for this programme, which has in turn created new opportunities for corporate volunteerism.

11. We are also enhancing the integration of social and health services, to ensure they are accessible and convenient. We have consolidated the functions of Senior Centres, as we redesign our workflows around our seniors’ experience. We will be enhancing the scope and reach of services in Senior Centres, to provide services across a spectrum of needs, including wellness programmes, day care and community rehabilitation. These centres will cater to all seniors, beyond vulnerable seniors.

12. We are also pioneering a new assisted living model for our seniors to age-in- place, and will launch a pilot next year that will twin public housing with care and support services. This development would encompass basic domestic services to support independent living, including 24/7 emergency monitoring and response, as well as communal spaces with light programming to encourage residents to interact.

Translating Innovation into Impact

13. Third, we must aim higher to translate innovations into tangible solutions for our seniors to improve their quality of life. We have established the National Innovation Challenge on Active and Confident Ageing, with $200 million set aside for applied, multi-disciplinary research to transform the ageing experience. Since 2015, we have launched seven grant calls, in areas such as home care, cognition, ageless workplaces, assistive devices, chronic disease management, frailty and falls prevention. Our researchers work closely with implementation partners to develop new solutions, and we will continue to champion efforts to bridge research and real world deployment with partners in industry and the community.

14. While we focus on making an impact at home, we must always look beyond Singapore to see what we can learn and how we can contribute. I am proud to mention that Singapore and Denmark have deepened the collaborations amongst our research institutions, with A*STAR and the Technical University of Denmark having signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Precision Medicine. We will continue to pursue collaborations with our international partners, to build our capabilities and widen our network, particularly on translational research into ageing.

15. As we shift towards a digital age, we must leverage technology to help our seniors stay active and engaged with society. One initiative would be the new active ageing module under the Moments-of-Life mobile application, an integrated platform that provides personalised and proactive support to citizens at key junctures of their lives. The app includes an active ageing programme finder that shows seniors’ offerings near their homes, and also enables them to assess their eligibility for various Government benefits. The Moments-of-Life initiative is just one example of co- creation, and represents how citizen feedback enhances service delivery, to better serve key stages in a person-centric way. With Denmark ranked as the EU’s most digitalised country, we will continue to learn from your experience in our transition to a Smart Nation, and have our seniors as creators and participants in the digital sphere.

Conclusion

16. In conclusion, how do we go from grappling with the challenges of ageing, to harnessing longevity – with all its joys and complexities? We must activate our citizens and community, enable new partnerships and models of care, and translate innovative solutions into impact. To Lifelong Living, a wonderful friendship, and many fruitful discussions today. Thank you.