Official launch of Communicable Diseases Agency

1. The Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA), a statutory board under the Ministry of Health (MOH), was officially launched today by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong. CDA is Singapore’s dedicated public health agency with a mission to protect the nation from infectious diseases. 

2. CDA consolidates the public health and scientific expertise, operational and policy capabilities, and surveillance and analytics skills and systems, which formerly resided across MOH, the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and Health Promotion Board. The plan to establish CDA was announced by Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung during the Parliamentary Debate on the White Paper on Singapore’s Response to COVID-19 in March 2023.

3. Since becoming operational on 1 April 2025, CDA has introduced several initiatives to strengthen nationwide public health defences against infectious diseases. These include launching the Singapore Pandemic Preparedness and Response Framework in July 2025 to bolster Singapore’s pandemic readiness, and updating the National Adult Immunisation Schedule in September to strengthen our immunisation policy by including the Shingrix and PCV20 vaccines in the schedules.   

CDA’s Role in Public Health: Prepare, Prevent, Protect

4. CDA seeks to address Singapore's infectious disease challenges through a comprehensive strategy built on three pillars: Prepare, Prevent and Protect. This integrated approach enables CDA to tackle current and future infectious disease threats.

5. Prepare: Being prepared and ready is important so that we can respond rapidly and decisively to public health threats. Leading and coordinating public health preparedness and readiness efforts is therefore a key area of CDA’s work. Research serves as a cornerstone of our preparedness efforts, generating scientific evidence and data that shape and direct public health interventions and policy decisions. The national Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and REsponse (PREPARE) under CDA strengthens Singapore’s research capabilities to prepare for and respond to current and future threats.

6. Prevent: Stopping infectious diseases before they take hold or cause severe outcomes is a priority for CDA. Immunisation is a key strategy to prevent infections from occurring and to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. CDA continues to review and enhance the immunisation framework to protect our population. We also work with the healthcare institutions to strengthen infection prevention and control by developing national guidelines and standards. CDA will also roll out targeted education efforts to increase public awareness of preventive measures and drive behavioural change, as well as keep healthcare professionals equipped with up-to-date knowledge and skills.

7. Protect: Early detection of disease threats is essential for mounting an effective response. CDA is updating the national surveillance strategy to strengthen early detection, enhance collaboration, and leverage new technologies, such as genomic and wastewater surveillance, to better anticipate and respond to disease threats. CDA will also enhance our laboratory capabilities of rapid detection and timely characterisation of pathogens by leveraging cutting-edge diagnostic technologies, advancing whole genome sequencing and strengthening data integration systems.  

8. CDA cannot tackle infectious disease threats alone. In an outbreak, CDA supports efforts across government agencies, as well as the whole of society, including enterprises and community groups to ensure coordinated and rapid public health interventions.  

9. Infectious diseases and other health threats do not respect national boundaries and require a coordinated international response for effective prevention and control. International collaboration is therefore vital for early information access, collective preparedness, and sharing of best practices for more effective capability building. To date, CDA has signed Memoranda of Understanding with counterparts in the People's Republic of China, Germany, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom to foster collaboration in areas such as surveillance, preparedness and technological innovation.

10. As infectious diseases emerge with increasing frequency due to globalisation, high population density, climate change, and evolving pathogens, the launch of CDA represents Singapore’s proactive approach to building our national resilience against infectious diseases. CDA will continue strengthening our capabilities to safeguard Singapore’s public health against infectious disease threats.

Communicable Diseases Agency

12 November 2025