The Ministry of Health announced on Sunday that Singapore will host the inaugural Ministerial Conference on Diabetes on 26 and 27 November 2018 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.
More than 300 international and local delegates, including health ministers, senior government officials, academics and thought leaders from 18 countries and regions will attend the conference on diabetes in Singapore.
Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam will attend the opening ceremony of the conference as the guest of honour and deliver the opening address.
The ministry stated in a news release that, "delegates will share best practices and insights, discuss the challenges and opportunities arising from the global diabetes epidemic, and build on the collective knowledge to address the challenges that diabetes inflicts on society."
The participating countries and regions include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Finland, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Japan, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Macao SAR, Myanmar, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Tonga, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam.
It should be noted that currently more than 450,000 Singaporeans are the victims of diabetes and the host of the conference has declared the battle against the disease in 2016.
The conference will focus on three major topics and these are-
- Examining the global diabetes epidemic, as well as the challenges and opportunities arising from this problem;
- Tackling diabetes through health promotion and primary care, to create supportive environments for individuals; and
- Leveraging technology and behavioural insights to enable changes for better health
The key speakers at the conference will be-
- Dr Svetlana Axelrod, Assistant Director-General for Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health, World Health Organization;
- Dr Sania Nishtar, Co-Chair, Independent High-Level Global Commission on Non-Communicable Diseases, World Health Organization; and
- Professor Paul Zimmet, Professor of Diabetes, Monash University, Australia.
"The Conference will conclude with a Ministerial Roundtable, where attending health ministers and senior government officials will discuss how nations can effectively leverage and prioritise innovation, strengthen social mobilisation, and better cooperate with key stakeholders to address the global issue of diabetes and other NCDs," the news release added.
