HPB DigiCoach Pilot Shows AI Health Coaching Works for Diabetes Prevention
Source: The Straits Times
Singapore's Health Promotion Board has proven that combining artificial intelligence, digital coaching, and continuous glucose monitoring can meaningfully improve health outcomes. Its DigiCoach pilot, which ran across 1,700 participants at risk of diabetes, delivered an average of 43.
Singapore's Health Promotion Board has proven that combining artificial intelligence, digital coaching, and continuous glucose monitoring can meaningfully improve health outcomes. Its DigiCoach pilot, which ran across 1,700 participants at risk of diabetes, delivered an average of 43 extra minutes per day in healthy blood sugar range, with those starting from poorer control gaining 2.6 hours per day. Participants also shed an average of 0.8 BMI points, with 80 per cent of those who tracked their weight reporting a measurable reduction.
The results validate a strategy HPB has been quietly building for years. Its Healthy 365 app now serves roughly 890,000 active monthly users, roughly a quarter of Singapore's adult population. What started as a basic step tracker in 2015 has evolved into a full-spectrum health platform covering nutrition, sleep, and mental wellbeing. Behind it sits a dedicated data office, set up four years ago, that analyses user patterns to deliver what HPB chief executive Tay Choon Hong calls personalised, timely nudges.
The DigiCoach pilot paired participants with a continuous glucose monitor and a mobile app that logged meals and physical activity. Digital health coaching sessions guided users through prompts and reflections tailored to their own glucose data. HPB has already begun scaling its approach. A new proof-of-concept pilot tackling metabolic syndrome launched in early 2026, targeting individuals with high waist circumference plus at least one chronic condition. The app's new Nearby feature, piloted in Woodlands and Sembawang Central in June 2026, rewards users with Healthpoints for checking in at local facilities.
What makes this notable is the shift from blanket public health messaging to algorithmic personalisation at population scale. HPB's data office analyses lifestyles across Singapore's diverse demographics to calibrate everything from meal-logging targets to the timing of exercise nudges. A night-owl gets a push notification in the evening, not at 6 AM. The AI layer transforms a one-size-fits-all government app into something that feels individually relevant, and the engagement numbers suggest it is working.
Why it matters for Singapore: Diabetes prevention has been a national priority since the 2016 War on Diabetes declaration. HPB's DigiCoach results show that AI-powered personalisation, deployed through an existing platform with near-million user adoption, can deliver measurable clinical outcomes at scale. As Singapore's population ages and healthcare costs rise, this data-driven, preventive approach offers a template that other government agencies tackling chronic disease will likely follow. The Healthy 365 app is no longer just a step counter, it is the operating system for Singapore's preventive health strategy.