SINGAPORE — The National University Centre for Trauma at the National University Hospital (NUH) and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) have jointly launched the inaugural National Injury Prevention Conference (NIPC) 2025, spearheading concerted efforts in injury prevention across three critical domains: paediatric injury prevention, workplace safety and road traffic safety. The conference is supported by the National Trauma Unit, Ministry of Health (MOH).
Both NUH and KKH play a vital role in trauma care, research, and injury prevention. NUH houses the National University Centre for Trauma, one of Singapore’s key trauma centres serving both adults and paediatric patients, while KKH is the national specialist centre for women’s and children’s health. NIPC 2025 highlights the robust
partnership between the NUH National University Centre for Trauma and KKH, and represents a shared commitment to injury prevention – a pressing issue that affects individuals of all ages.
Trauma remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, with incidence of trauma injuries rising by approximately 10 per cent between 2021 and 2023, according to the National Trauma Registry, Singapore. This growing trend highlights the urgent need for a coordinated, multisectoral approach to injury prevention.
Officially opened by Professor Kenneth Mak, Director-General of Health, MOH, NIPC 2025 brings together different stakeholders across government agencies, public healthcare institutions and councils, pooling resources, data and expertise with the aim of shaping a broad, high-level roadmap for injury prevention. The conference includes closed-door breakout sessions, where experts from NUH, KKH and other institutions will develop targeted strategies for each safety track.
“The burden of trauma is significant – impacting individuals, families, communities, and the healthcare system,” says Adjunct Assistant Professor Dr Raj Menon, who is the Centre Director of the NUH National University Centre for Trauma. “Through NIPC 2025, we hope to create a forum where stakeholders can come together to share best practices and drive a coordinated national approach to reduce preventable injuries and fatalities.”
“Child injuries are a significant threat to children’s health and well-being, with far reaching impact on families and society. Yet, traumatic injuries are highly preventable. Because our children’s safety is a shared responsibility, NIPC 2025 enables us to foster collaboration both within and outside healthcare, to develop innovative solutions for a safer Singapore,” said Clinical Assistant Professor Ronald Tan, Senior Consultant, Department of Emergency Medicine, KKH, and Chairman of the KKH Injury Prevention Working Group.
By co-leading the first NIPC, the NUH National University Centre for Trauma and KKH aim to pave the way for greater collaboration between stakeholders and a unified approach to injury prevention at the national level.
Due to their young age and smaller builds, children are particularly vulnerable to trauma-related incidents and injuries. Trauma is among the leading causes of death among the younger population, according to the KKH Child Injury Surveillance Report 2024, with drowning, falls from height and road traffic injuries being the top three causes of child injury deaths1.
Falls alone account for almost half of all childhood injuries, most of which occur at home. The paediatric safety track will focus on preventing falls from height, encouraging the use of window grilles and improving playground safety.
Drowning, which makes up more than 10 per cent of trauma incidents involving children, will be addressed through a multi-pronged approach. The breakout focus group discussion, jointly led by clinicians from NUH and KKH, will include enhancing swim education and reinforcing the importance of adult supervision, as vital efforts in tackling this problem.
Among both children and adults, vehicular accidents are the second most prevalent cause of injuries, at over 26 per cent and about 16 per cent respectively2, underscoring the pressing need to enhance road safety awareness and enforcement measures.
To reduce the risks of child road traffic injuries and encourage the use of child car restraints, KKH recently introduced the KKH Newborn Car Seat Programme. The initiative offers complimentary car seats for babies born at the hospital, alongside car seat “check-ups” to ensure that car seats are properly installed.
The importance of using safety gear is further reinforced in the road safety track at NIPC 2025 which will focus on strategies to encourage rear seatbelt use, especially in private hire vehicles, enforcing child seat usage for children, achieving effective road separation of vehicles and vulnerable road users such as cyclists, and promoting the use of helmets among cyclists.
Mdm Liau Mei Ling’s son was cycling across the road when his bicycle collided with a double-decker bus. The impact threw him off the bicycle and he fell headfirst to the ground. He was not wearing safety gear at the time of the incident.
As a result of the impact, the boy was rushed to KKH’s Children’s Emergency where he was found to have sustained severe traumatic brain injury and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. He was hospitalised for 12 days.
Mdm Liau had frequently reminded her son to be mindful of safety while cycling. However, as he was familiar with the route and it was a hot day, he opted not to put on a safety helmet. The boy had also observed other cyclists not wearing safety gear.
Thankfully, Mdm Liau’s son has made a good recovery and is now healthy and doing well.
A 26-year-old worker’s workday took an unexpected turn when steel beams collapsed onto him. He suffered severe injuries and was initially hospitalised for acute management at NUH, and subsequently transferred to Alexandra Hospital 3 for rehabilitation, totalling over three months.
Today, he is recovering well under the care of the multidisciplinary trauma team at the NUH National University Centre for Trauma. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation to regain his physical functions and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is investigating the incident. Such incidents are particularly more common in higher-risk sectors such as Construction, Manufacturing and Transportation & Storage.4 Immediate action and timely evacuation can be lifesaving for an injured worker. MOM and Workplace Safety and Health Council5, have published a circular that outlines the steps for appropriate and timely response when attending to a worker injured at work, including recognising medical emergencies and calling 995 for emergency medical services6.
The NUH National University Centre for Trauma has, since its launch in July last year, continued to ramp up its outreach efforts, conducting its workplace injury response workshops at migrant worker dormitories. At NIPC 2025, data on injury subtypes and emergency evacuation procedures will be presented to guide the formulation of a training framework for workplace injury prevention.
While NIPC 2025 marks the first iteration of the conference, plans are in place to establish it as an annual platform for continued knowledge sharing, strategic development and refinement of injury prevention efforts nationwide.
To download the PDF version of the media release, click here.
1 KKH Child Injury Surveillance Report 2024 - KK Women's and Children's Hospital
2 https://www.moh.gov.sg/others/resources-and-statistics/trauma
3 Alexandra Hospital and National University Hospital are both part of the National University Health System (NUHS). As part of NUHS’s integrated healthcare system, patients receive care across its institutions based on their medical needs.
4 https://www.mom.gov.sg/-/media/mom/documents/safety-health/reports-stats/wsh-nationalstatistics/wsh-national-stats-2024.pdf
5 With inputs from Singapore Civil Defence Force, MOH’s Unit for Pre-hospital Emergency Care and National Trauma Unit
6 https://www.mom.gov.sg/-/media/mom/documents/safety-health/circulars/2025/circular-20250212-advisory-on-emergency-response-injured-workers.pdf
