Adolescent health in Asia: insights from Singapore

The introduction of adolescent medicine as a medical subspecialty in Singapore was a welcome in an evolving health care system that is unique in terms of both efficiency, in financing and the results achieved in community health outcomes. The Ministry of Health (MOH) already recognized the need to accommodate the health care concerns related to adolescent psychosocial health risk behaviors and an increased prevalence of young people living with chronic illness. The challenge for the pioneer team of physicians trained in adolescent medicine was to develop and sustain a model of care that integrated (i) core clinical services that include quality measures of care to adolescents; (ii) professional development and capacity building needing an expansive teaching agenda at every level of health education; (iii) strong inter-sectorial collaborations within hospital and community partners; and (iv) robust research and evaluation strategies that keep clinical practice relevant and evidence based.