500 Children From Low-Income Families Given A Healthy Head Start

Singapore, 3 June 2012: About 500 children will receive a leg-up when the Health Promotion Board (HPB) extends its Healthy Head Start programme to 250 low-income families in the Admiralty constituency today.

2. The programme aims to provide parents of young children with the skills to create a sustainable health promoting environment at home and encourage them to be role models in healthy living for their children.

3. Piloted last year in collaboration with the Admiralty Grassroots Organisation (GRO), the programme reached out to 19 low-income families in the area, who had children up to two years old.

4. A review conducted by HPB at the end of the eight-month programme showed that about 80 per cent of the participants gained new health promotion knowledge and skills, including ways to support their young children emotionally.

5. Following the pilot and with feedback from the pioneer group of parents, the Admiralty GRO and HPB’s Health Ambassadors, HPB is now extending an enhanced version of the Healthy Head Start programme to help at least 250 low-income families in Admiralty nurture the health of their children during the early developmental years, from infant to six years old.

6. Said Mr Ang Hak Seng, Chief Executive Officer, HPB: “While a healthy head start to life is important as it can significantly affect health outcomes in childhood and later in adulthood, parents need to juggle many pressing concerns. To complement existing forms of assistance for low-income families and ensure that no child is deprived of health promoting opportunities, the Healthy Head Start programme aims to provide families with the know-how to nurture the health of their children and lead healthy lifestyles, as a family. The programme will also facilitate convenient and affordable access to health promotion services such as health screenings and dental check-ups for these families.”

7. Said Mr Vikram Nair, Adviser to Admiralty GRO: “The Healthy Head Start programme was initiated by my predecessor, Dr Maliki, and our grassroots leaders as they wanted to make a positive difference to the health and lifestyles of low-income families with young children living in the area. We, therefore, decided to collaborate with HPB on this initiative and started a module on healthy nutrition for the families. As health is multi-faceted and influenced by many factors, the programme will also be supported by other community partners such as Mendaki Sense and SINDA to address issues including employment and education, which are also pivotal tenets of health."

8. Mdm Edna Tan, Chairperson of the Admiralty Welfare Committee, Admiralty Citizens’ Consultative Committee, which oversees the implementation of the Healthy Head Start programme in Admiralty, said: “After the pilot programme, we were pleased that many parents benefited and learnt much from it. For the pioneer group of parent participants whose children have now grown older, this enhanced programme – which has customised health programmes relating to children up to six – will enhance their skills and knowledge to care for their children in the next phase of early childhood. We look forward to working with HPB to extend the enhanced programme to more families.”

9. The enhanced version of the Healthy Head Start programme will span 12 months and comprise:

• Interactive workshops for parents
  These workshops will cover a comprehensive and holistic range of child health issues including oral health, physical activity, nutrition, myopia, mental wellness and common conditions such as asthma. A peer support approach will be adopted to allow parents to encourage each other in nurturing the health and wellbeing of their children. The workshops will also leverage the expertise of partners such as KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), who will be conducting some of these sessions. In addition, parents will be provided help in finding jobs and increasing their market value.

• ‘Learn Through Play’ workshops for children
  To engage the children, fun and interactive workshops specially designed for those aged between four and six years will be organised. These workshops will tap on local community amenities such as the neighbourhood playground to provide an experiential health education opportunity.

• Basic health promotion services
  Conducted at a Healthy Kids Corner in the ACE The Place Community Centre, these services include basic oral health checks and dental services as well as growth and developmental assessments. With this, HPB hopes to facilitate convenient access to such services among the low-income families.

• Engaging and building capacities of local Health Ambassadors
  To create a sustainable and supportive health promoting community within Admiralty, HPB has been boosting the knowledge of ambassadors in Admiralty by providing them with additional training in topics related to child health.

10. HPB plans to roll out the Healthy Head Start programme to 20 constituencies over the next three years. Local constituencies will be able to tap on HPB’s Constituency Health Promotion Grant, which seeks to co-create and co-implement health promoting solutions with like-minded grassroots organisations and supported by the people and private sectors.

Issued by Health Promotion Board