The Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC) is back with its 19th edition. Since 2002, SHBC has established itself to become a must-attend vital platform for healthcare delegates to learn, share and equip themselves with extended knowledge. Unlike past editions, SHBC 2021 will be held online as we adjust to the new normal in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we move towards the “Brave New World of Healthcare”, the theme for this year, SHBC 2021 aims to focus on current healthcare problems and deliberate over potential solutions for a sustainable health ecosystem and a future-ready healthcare workforce.
Innovation in the healthcare industry is rapidly accelerating and the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the need for resilience in the healthcare systems.
To align with the current healthcare landscape, SHBC has added a new award category “COVID-19: Our Response to a New Challenge” to the prestigious SHBC Scientific Competition.
The SHBC Scientific Competition is an excellent opportunity to showcase, exhibit research efforts and compete among fellow researchers. It is open to all medical and scientific professionals locally and across the globe. SHBC is currently accepting submissions for all 7 abstract and 9 award categories The deadline to submit is 23 July 2021.
The key discussions at this year’s SHBC hope to focus on topics of the paradigm shift in healthcare, lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, innovations in healthcare and their impact as well as achieving a healthy population.
1. Paradigm Shift in Healthcare
Over the last decade, there has been a paradigm shift in healthcare prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. From vaccines to virtual care, enterprise imaging to precision medicine, these are the growth areas that will shape the direction of healthcare. As we begin to look beyond the pandemic and into the future, now is an important time to evaluate the impact of these services on quality, costs, and outcomes of care.
SHBC has prepared insightful sessions on ‘Stratifying Health Care’ to touch on the opportunities and challenges that precision medicine may bring and how metabolic health and surgical outcomes can be improved.
2. Responding to COVID-19: What can we learn?
As countries all around chart their own paths through the coronavirus pandemic, Singapore has often been held up as an example where diligent contact tracing, isolation of cases and quarantining of contacts have allowed control of clusters and outbreaks without the need for widespread extreme social distancing measures, but there is more to it.
The congress will discuss on the key lessons we can take away from this pandemic with insights from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). The topics also focus on how Science and Research impacted policies and practices and how social media played a role in communicating during a pandemic
3. Telehealth & Innovations
Technology has given rise to new opportunities and this is clearly evident as how SHBC is now able to hold the congress on a virtual platform to a global audience.
To cope with the unprecedented usage of healthcare resources, increasingly novel solutions are being introduced to the industry. Telehealth has been thrust into the spotlight in the fight against COVID-19 and is being employed in many different ways to better tackle the challenges. As we reassess what healthcare looks like in a world living with COVID-19, it is crucial that we understand how telehealth and other innovations impact medical education and training, the delivery system and its workforce, and patients’ access to care.
Find out how technology and innovation support the study of mental health, clinical consultation, enhancing mobility and preserving musculoskeletal health as well as aid in the field of palliative care
4. Population Health
Ageing population, rising frailty and an increased prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours raise the demands on Singapore’s healthcare infrastructure. There is an urgent need to evaluate our model of care to focus on population health, to improve health outcomes and keep public healthcare sustainable in the long term.
Diabetes is one major public health problem worldwide. With the declaration of war on diabetes by Ministry of Health of Singapore - there has been a concerted effort across NHG to not only prevent our existing diabetic patients from developing complications; but also in keeping the onset of diabetes at bay among our population. While the war is ongoing, it is important that we also fight the battles against obesity and smoking which contributes to the prevalence of diabetes in Singapore.
Should people be further incentivised to stay healthy so that the chances for a medical condition that could have been prevented can be reduced? SHBC will address the challenges in achieving the goal of creating a healthier Singapore population by tackling diabetes and conditions related to the metabolic syndrome.
SHBC 2021 promises maximum audience engagement, interaction with experts and creative educational opportunities so that learning is not limited to the two days of the congress, but well beyond.
Registration details, information on the SHBC programme, and abstract rules & regulations can be found on the SHBC 2021 website shbc.com.sg
For more information, please contact:
Ms Yiling Tham: [email protected]
Website: shbc.com.sg
