SINGAPORE — American fitness wearables company Fitbit is partnering the Health Promotion Board (HPB) in a new initiative to encourage Singaporeans towards better habits in physical activity, sleep, nutrition and emotional wellbeing, the company announced on Wednesday (Aug 21).

Named Live Healthy SG, the initiative will allow Singaporeans to sign up for a year-long subscription to Fitbit Premium at S$10 a month, or S$120 in total. In return, the company is giving participants an Inspire HR health tracker worth S$158 for free.

Fitbit Premium offers users a digital coach that will guide them with video workouts and audio coaching, the company’s website stated.

The joint collaboration is part of a healthy population project that uses technology, behavioural insights and analytics to nudge Singaporeans to get healthier through meaningful and sustained behaviour change, the press release said.

HPB is aligning this initiative with others, such as the National Steps Challenge and the Healthy 365 mobile application, to drive increased participation and engagement among people here.

Users will be able to link their Fitbit activity to health challenges on the Healthy 365 app, which then allows them to win prizes or earn points and redeem awards, the company said.

HPB's chief executive officer Zee Yoong Kang said in the press release that the agency is working with industry players such as Fitbit to use tech to provide Singaporeans with the tools to take control of their own health.

For instance, those who sign up for Fitbit’s service will have the option of sharing their data with the agency. Such data will, in turn, provide insights and contribute to more effective and targeted health intervention and promotional programmes that will benefit Singaporeans.

“Participants of this programme will benefit from Fitbit’s plans to incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning to encourage physical activity, healthy eating and better sleep quality. The insights gathered can also help to enrich HPB’s health promotion programmes,” Mr Zee said.

Mr Steve Morley, vice-president of Fitbit Asia-Pacific, told CNA that data sharing with HPB is strictly voluntary via its app and any data shared is “aggregated or de-identified”. This means any and all personal identifiers are removed before sharing is done, he added.

“Fitbit has always been committed to protecting consumer privacy, putting users in control of their personal data, and keeping data safe. We prioritise transparency and clarity in our privacy policies so people understand what is happening to the data they share with us,” Mr Morley added.

All interested Singapore citizens and permanent eesidents will be able to pre-register starting mid-September and the programme will officially kick off in late October this year, Fitbit said. CNA

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