Welcome Message

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Singapore Gateway Event to the 18th World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education.

The 18th World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education, to be held in Melbourne, Australia, is auspiced by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) and supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank. Several gateway events to the main conference in Australia would be conducted in several locations. Singapore is privileged to collaborate with these international bodies in providing the Singapore's perspective to this global conference.

The Singapore Gateway Event is jointly organised by the Health Promotion Board; the Chapter of Public Health and Occupational Physicians, Academy of Medicine, Singapore; and the Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore.

The theme for the Singapore Gateway Event is "Recent advances in health promotion in Singapore". Promoting the health of populations is a complex enterprise which has challenged policy makers, academics and practitioners from diverse disciplines across the globe over the past few decades. While the idea of health promotion is not new, its rise to prominence as an organised field is a fairly recent development. Globally, the launch of the World Health Organisation's Charter for Health Promotion in Ottawa, Canada, in 1986, was the most significant catalyst for growth. In Singapore, the formation of the Health Promotion Board in April 2001 served this function. Recognising the broad and wide-ranging determinants of health, health promotion in Singapore has been positioned as a multi-disciplinary science so as to draw necessary insights from diverse disciplines.

It is this recognition of the myriad dimensions of health promotion that serves as the underpinning philosophy for the Organising Committee of the Singapore Gateway Event. A comprehensive scientific programme consisting of a keynote address by Dr David McQueen on "The critical importance of the 'evidence debate' for health promotion" and 5 plenary lectures covering different health promotion strategies in Singapore is being organised. In addition, the event has attracted a number of poster presentations in a variety of areas such as health screening, HIV/STD, mental health, men's/women's health, nutrition, smoking, SARS, workplace health and others. These papers attest to the diversity of research and practice in health promotion.

I am sure that all of us would benefit from the scientific programme of the Singapore Gateway Event. The event would also provide us with an opportunity to meet old friends, make new ones and exchange views. I hope that you will enjoy your visit and will also have an opportunity to discover the history, culture and lifestyle of multi-cultural Singapore.

I wish all delegates an enjoyable and fruitful event.

Dr Mabel Yap
Chairperson
Organising Committee of Singapore Gateway Event