Vaccination has reduced the disease burden of infectious disease since it was invented. Each person has his or her own unique vaccination needs during the various stages of one’s life. What each one needs is determined by one’s health, age, lifestyle and occupation at that time. Strategically, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) introduced a simple HALO2 approach to help physicians customise vaccinations for the public with the circumstances and needs of the public in mind. With the HALO approach, the public is able to discuss with their personal family physician or general practitioner and receive the relevant vaccines to prevent diseases and maintain health.

Background: Among Singaporeans with diabetes, 1 in 3have not been diagnosed. A large proportion ofSingaporean adults are not current for theirrecommended diabetic screening.Objective: To determine whether handing out diabetesscreening leaflets to patients at the point of registrationin a general practice (GP) clinic would influence theiruptake of diabetes screening.Design: A randomized controlled trial with a follow-upperiod of 3 months. Outcome measured was whetherpatients did the diabetes screening test (fasting plasmaglucose).Intervention: A leaflet on diabetes screening was givento patients when they registered in the GP clinic. Thecontrol group did not receive a leaflet.Setting: A GP clinic in Toa Payoh, a suburb in centralSingapore.Participants: 97 patients 40 years old and above whowere not known diabetics.Results: There was no significant difference in theuptake of diabetes screenings between the interventionand the control group (p=0.740).Conclusion: Handing out leaflets at registration in theGP clinic does not change uptake of diabetes screening.

Prevention of disease is one of the key functions ofprimary care. Vaccines have earned their place inpreventing communicable diseases. The rate of uptake ofvaccines does not always match with knowledge.There are barriers which the healthcare professionalsneed to address. In the new era of IT, innovation andpolicy change, many ideas can be pursued to improvevaccination uptake in the community.There is a group of our population who will need ourspecial attention to vaccinate. They are the healthcareworkers, caregivers, the foreign domestic helpers, theimmunocompromised, and the pregnant mothers.There are many areas we need to work on to improve ourvaccination rate. Primary Care Research will provide theevidence and guide the refinement of these programmes.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has updated the clinical practice guidelines on hypertension to provide doctors and patients in Singapore with evidence-based treatment for hypertension. This article reproduces the introduction and executive summary (with recommendations from the guidelines) from the MOH clinical practice guidelines on hypertension, for the information of SMJ readers. Chapters and page numbers mentioned in the reproduced extract refer to the full text of the guidelines, which are available from the Ministry of Health website: http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/healthprofessionalsportal/doctors/guidelines/cpg_medical.html. The recommendations should be used with reference to the full text of the guidelines. Following this article are multiple choice questions based on the full text of the guidelines.
Antihypertensive Agents ; therapeutic use ; Blood Pressure ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Hypertension ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Life Style ; Risk Factors ; Singapore