Addictions among Singaporeans

Mr Laurence Lien asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the incidence of addictions among Singapore residents including the breakdown by the various types of addictions over the last five years; and (b) what are the measures to help people afflicted with addictions to step forward and seek help.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: There is no internationally agreed definition or scope of addiction prevalence rates. Based on available data from various surveys, the prevalence rate ranges from 0.5% of the adult resident population for alcohol abuse to 1.4% of the adult resident population for probable pathological gambling. A local 2010 study on pathological video-gaming among Singaporean youth showed that 8.7% of the 2,998 children and adolescents surveyed were pathological video-gamers.

Addiction is a multi-faceted condition that requires a multi-modal intervention that consists of upstream prevention, pharmacological intervention, psychological intervention such as social support groups and practical management such as social safeguards. For less severe forms of addictions, non-medical interventions such as social support from the family and community play important roles in the recovery of these cases. Medical intervention plays a part in the integrated management for persons with severe addictions.

MOH funded the set up of the National Addictions Management Service (NAMS) at IMH in 2008 to provide a multidisciplinary assessment and treatment service for severe addiction cases. NAMS provides training for healthcare and social service professionals, and school counsellors on better management of persons (including students) with addictions. It conducts public forums to create public awareness on addictions and runs an adolescent programme to raise awareness on addictions and provide counselling services to the youths, including those at Singapore Boys' and Girls' Homes. NAMS works closely with the Family Service Centres to provide training in early detection and referral of addiction patients. It also runs two public helplines to provide information and outreach to persons or families of persons with addiction related issues.

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