Empowering Communities and Promoting Health: My Brother SG's First Intergenerational and Interschool Migrant Worker Health Carnival

The Migrant Worker Health Carnival that we co-organised with Construction Care Collaboration, National Health Group (NHG) Family Medicine Residency, and MOM ACE Group was a resounding success, reaching over 200 migrant brothers at the Kranji Recreation Centre.

This event marks a significant milestone for us. It is the first time we collaborated with students from medical schools and doctors from Singapore’s three healthcare clusters to conduct a health screening for migrant workers. We came together with the aim of increasing health awareness and literacy among the migrant community.

Medical students and doctors worked together to check migrant brothers’ blood pressure, height and weight. They also provided health education on chronic illnesses and musculoskeletal pain, empowering migrant workers to lead healthier lifestyles.

A volunteer checking a migrant worker’s blood pressure

An engaging and educational game for migrant workers

Not only was the health carnival a great way to care for the migrant community, but it was also an excellent opportunity for mentorship between doctors and students as they served the community together.

Both students and doctors enjoyed volunteering and found it meaningful to contribute to a good cause.

One student said about their volunteer experience:

“I really enjoyed speaking to migrant workers about health tips. It felt fulfilling to be able to help them.”

Student volunteers educating a migrant worker on chronic diseases

Another student said:

“This was an impactful experience as I got to interact with migrant workers and see first-hand what their facilities are like.”

A doctor from NHG Family Medicine Residency expressed how inspiring it was to witness like-minded groups coming together to help migrant workers, saying:

“What stood out to me the most was the collaboration between medical schools and various family medicine clusters for a good cause. It inspired and encouraged me to continue promoting and establishing community outreach within NHG Family Medicine Residency.”

Volunteers and event organisers at the Migrant Worker Health Carnival

The event's success would not have been possible without the support of all the doctors from different healthcare clusters and volunteers from My Brother SG, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, and Duke-NUS Medical School. We look forward to kickstarting many more exciting partnerships with medical professionals to conduct regular health screenings for migrant workers.

If you are interested in partnering or volunteering with My Brother SG, get in touch with us here.

Pilot Print of Mental Health Booklets - Over 60,000 Distributed

We developed our first mental health booklet to address the mental challenges that migrant workers were facing due to the pandemic. The booklet contains encouraging and hopeful messages, as well as tips to take care of one’s mental health. It also suggests ways to notice signs of depression and resources to get help.

For our pilot print, the Covid-19 Migrant Support Coalition (CMSC) partnered with us to distribute our booklets with wellness packages to 1,200 quarantined workers.

From Oct to Dec, we had two more rounds of prints. Multiple organizations ordered the booklets and a total of 59,946 booklets were distributed to migrant workers.

The booklets are available to download in 8 languages on our site here.

Publishing Our First Health Booklets

When the first cases of COVID-19 broke out among migrant workers, communication between healthcare workers and migrant workers was a challenge. In response, a group of volunteer doctors curated a pictorial, multilingual health booklet aimed at orientating incoming patients at Community Care Facilities (CCFs).

The booklet was quickly developed based on a thorough understanding of patients’ needs, contextual realities of migrant worker living conditions, and best available information. The booklet aimed to provide culturally sensitive information and advice during their stay at the CCFs.

Entitled “Recovering from COVID-19”, the booklet conveyed health information to encourage migrant workers in their recovery and reinforced policy decisions ensuring coverage of COVID-19 related medical care.

Not only did the booklet provide healthcare knowledge, but it also incorporated a comforting message of encouragement, echoing Singapore’s Prime Minister’s speech which stated, “You are one of us, we will take care of you.”

The CCF booklets were later modified to address the concerns of migrant workers in other residential facilities, including dormitories, swab isolation facilities, and recovery facilities. They were translated into seven languages common to the foreign workers: Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, Mandarin, Burmese, Thai, Telugu. Each version of the booklet is filled with culturally-relevant illustrations that convey a strong sense of community, relatedness and engagement. To ensure accuracy and relevance of information, content and illustrations were created in consultation with frontline healthcare professionals and with migrant workers in-person at dormitories.

It was important that all versions conveyed a sense of emotional validation and empathy in order to address the distress migrant workers might have felt due to the quarantine, testing and relocation. The booklets also emphasized proper health practices, including social distancing, wearing masks and hygiene habits.

A pilot print of 20,000 booklets was distributed across the three Regional Health Systems in Singapore for distribution to the various facilities. The booklets were updated to keep pace with the rapidly evolving policies in swab and serology testing and with feedback received. Four print runs of 90,000 booklets in total were distributed in hard copy across Singapore.