Dementia Singapore is proud to partner with local celebrities Tay Ping Hui and Munah Bagharib to lend their influential voices to call for more support and increase public awareness efforts.
With backgrounds spanning across television, film, theatre and hosting, Ping Hui and Munah both share Dementia Singapore’s passion, drive and optimism, in the organisation’s hopes to broaden their reach and support for the dementia community.
“I became a Dementia Singapore Ambassador because I sincerely think that we need to have more conversations on this unavoidable topic. Conditions like heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease have been much talked about, but discussions on the matters of dementia are still lacking in my eyes. I hope that by becoming an Ambassador, I can do my part to bring more people to this conversation,” said Ping Hui, one of Singapore’s most well-known home-grown talents and current Uni-Icon Entertainment artiste. Ping Hui also cited friends and family members close to him who are living or have lived with dementia. Having seen the effects of the condition on them, he reveals that the cause is a personal one to him.
For local actress Munah, it was witnessing her mother getting diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2017 and her new role as a caregiver, which encouraged her to step forward. “What Dementia Singapore stands for, is everything I believe in and everything my family and I needed when we were faced with dementia. I turned to their resources to learn more about how to move forward, what help is out there, how to be a better caregiver. It made a huge difference. It is an honour for me to be part of their cause because I want to help raise awareness about what dementia is, reduce the stigma around it, and most of all, be able to educate myself so that we can be there for those impacted by the condition,” said Munah, who is also a social media influencer.
Together with Dementia Singapore, the Ambassadors hope to raise more awareness about dementia and its increasing prevalence, kickstart public conversations, and rally local authorities to offer more support to those impacted by the condition.
Noting that the societal stigma against dementia is still rampant in Singapore, Ping Hui added: “I think we could start with more public education on dementia so that topics such as these would not be labelled a taboo subject. It is unfortunate that many in society today still tend to avoid the topic or pretend it doesn’t exist altogether. I believe we can do better, but the key is public education.
As Singapore continues to age, coupled with rising figures of people with young onset dementia (dementia which is diagnosed at 65 years old and below), another nationwide issue is family caregivers getting increasingly younger.
Addressing this issue and the challenges that the younger generation may face, Munah added: “It’s an unpredictable journey and it’s not always going to be rainbows and butterflies. But we are all stronger than we think we are. And we have to fight for our loved ones [with dementia] because you know they would do the exact same for us. Find and give support, that’s the most important thing.”
“We are extremely honoured and excited to begin this ambassadorship journey with Ping Hui and Munah. With their influential voices, we hope to reach nearer to our goal of building a dementia-inclusive society for all, with the mission to improve the wellbeing of people impacted by dementia through Care Innovation, Advocacy and Empowerment,” said Dementia Singapore CEO, Mr Jason Foo.
Stay tuned for more updates with our ambassadors!
