HPB Partners NTUC Women's Development Secretariat (WDS) To Promote Women's Health In The Workplaces

Singapore, 11 September 2013: The Health Promotion Board (HPB) and NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat (WDS) have collaborated to get 1,700 women union leaders to encourage union companies to sign up for the Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) Grant to support women’s health programmes and offer women-centric health promotion programmes to their employees.

2. This will be done through various platforms such as health talks between NTUC WDS and the women union leaders as well as through dialogue sessions.

3. In March this year, HPB sought insights from 120 women aged 18 to 69 on Singaporean women’s perceptions and attitudes towards health. Being a woman is stressful as many women today fulfil multiple roles as mothers, wives, and employees. Often, their family needs takes priority over their own health.

4. With this in mind, HPB has collaborated with NTUC WDS as workplaces serve as an effective outreach platform to promote women’s health especially among working mothers who play a pivotal role in influencing the health behaviours of their children and family members.
   Extension of the Workplace Health Promotion Grant to support women’s health programmes

5. HPB and NTUC WDS want to help employers create a supportive work environment and provide convenient and accessible health promotion programmes to employees. Since July this year, an additional $5,000 is available for companies to organise women-centric events. This is an enhancement to the existing annual $15,000 WHP Grant launched in 2001.

6. With the availability of the Grant, it offers both employees and employers accessible and affordable tools, resources and guidance to boost women’s health at the workplace. Companies can tap on the grant to help female employees offset the cost of their breast and cervical cancer screening tests as well as use the grant to pay for the ‘SHE (Strong Healthy Employees) Inspires!’ series of health talks.

7. Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Health and Manpower, said, “Working women today have to balance the demands of family and work. Eight in 10 women aged 20 to 39 and one in two older women aged 40 to 69 are active in the workforce1. As Chair of the Women’s Health Advisory Committee and a working mother myself, I know this is not an easy task. As women juggle work and family commitments, it is so easy for us to lose sight of our own health and wellbeing. We want to help women by bringing health promotion programmes to women at the workplaces. As we move forward, we hope companies understand that investing in the health of their female employees through the Workplace Health Promotion Grant will in turn help them achieve greater productivity in the long term.”

8. Ms Sylvia Choo, Director, Women’s Development Secretariat, NTUC, said, “Through our pool of 1,700 women union leaders, we hope to work closely with HPB to reach out to our unionised companies, to advocate and promote the benefits of the Workplace Health Promotion Grant for women at workplaces. It is important that our women workers are protected and are provided with such support from their employers. We hope that more companies can tap on this grant, which will in turn benefit more women workers.”

9. Since the extension of the WHP Grant to support women’s health programmes in July, four companies have submitted their application. HPB aims to reach out to 100 workplaces by 2015. 

Annex 1 Factsheet on the extended Workplace Health Promotion Grant – Women’s Health
Annex 2 Factsheet on “S.H.E (Stronger, Healthier Employees) Inspires!” Talks

Issued by Health Promotion Board

Media Release

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