SINGAPORE – Woodlands is set to be the first town in Singapore to implement health initiatives specifically tailored to its residents, according to a tender by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) published on government procurement portal GeBIZ on Dec 16.
To that end, HPB is looking to appoint a contractor to help equip community leaders, volunteers from active ageing centres and grassroots organisations with the know-how to run health activities that cater to Woodlands residents and drive changes in their health behaviour.
HPB said the activities would be co-designed with residents and partners, taking into consideration the cultural context, as well as the needs of diverse groups such as seniors who are inactive, lower-income families, youth and various ethnic communities.
This will turn Woodlands into Singapore’s first Health Promoting Town – a pilot scheme under Healthier SG that aims to “make healthy living the easy and natural choice for residents”, according to tender documents.
As the tender process will close on Jan 16, 2026, HPB declined to provide more details of the pilot scheme, including why Woodlands was selected as the first town for it and future scaling-up plans.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in October that residents in the three big towns in the north of Singapore – Yishun, Sembawang and Woodlands – have a higher prevalence of chronic illness, compared with residents in the rest of the Republic.
While the reasons for this require deep study, “I think what we can do immediately is to set up all our efforts in population health and preventive health in the north”, said Mr Ong.
According to the tender documents seen by The Straits Times, the contractor is expected to guide community leaders and volunteers in using relevant information, such as the residents’ clinical data from the public healthcare clusters, in running the various health initiatives.
