Community care at scale: Singapore's Active Ageing Centres 2.0 as a model for healthy ageing

Singapore's Active Ageing Centres (AACs) are central to the national strategy to enable older adults to age in place through preventive, community-based services. Under the Healthier SG and Age Well SG reforms, AACs are being transformed from targeted social support points for vulnerable seniors into population-wide health-social hubs, with a goal of reaching 80% of seniors by 2025.

This policy commentary draws on national policy documents, programme reports and practitioner insights to examine the evolution and implementation of AAC 2.0, and to identify emerging opportunities and system-level challenges.

We highlight governance shifts, regional coordination mechanisms and health-social integration strategies. Innovations such as thematic centres, peer-led programmes and extended operating hours aim to engage diverse senior populations. Key challenges include centralised policy design, limited community voice, workforce constraints and fragmented coordination. Promising pilots, such as integrated wellness hubs, are underway but require greater alignment, relationship-building and local adaptation to scale.

We propose strategies to strengthen community partnerships, invest in trust-based engagement and embed robust evaluation frameworks informed by implementation science. Singapore's experience offers actionable insights for health systems seeking to design scalable, community-rooted models for healthy ageing that integrate social and healthcare services.