HPB looking for vaping, smoking counselling services for up to 175 secondary school students

SINGAPORE - The Health Promotion Board (HPB) is looking for vendors to provide counselling services to secondary school students who need help to stop vaping and smoking.

HPB put up a tender on government procurement portal GeBiz on July 23, calling for proposals as part of its vaping/smoking cessation programme for 150 students.

It will run for a year, with an option to renew for up to six months for an additional 25 students.

All public-sector invitations for quotations and tenders are posted on the GeBiz platform. 

Tender documents indicate that the virtual counselling services will be for the programme’s pilot, which will focus on secondary school students.

It said students referred by the relevant authorities and schools will be immediately enrolled in the programme.

These students are expected to undergo four intervention sessions and two follow-up sessions.

The intervention sessions are to be conducted within a month, with each session lasting at least 20 minutes.

The first session includes an online questionnaire to evaluate a student’s attitude and behaviour towards cigarette smoking or vaping, and a pre-cessation survey.

During the fourth session, the student will be asked to take a cotinine test to detect nicotine, which is found in cigarettes and vapes.

The follow-up sessions are to be conducted within five weeks, and each should last at least five minutes.

The final session will include a post-cessation survey.

The same counsellor should be paired with the same student throughout the programme unless a change is requested or required.

Audio from all sessions and the results of the cotinine tests must be recorded and retained.

These must be provided to HPB at its request within five working days.

At the end of each counselling session, students and their parents will be provided with a summary message.

Fortnightly status reports with the students’ details, session case notes and records will be distributed to the respective schools.

HPB will also be given a breakdown of the students’ progress and number of completed sessions.

HPB oversees national health promotion and education programmes including the vaping and smoking cessation programme I Quit, and other initiatives for workplaces, schools and the wider community.

The Straits Times has contacted HPB for comment.

The tender closes on Aug 1, with the delivery date of the services expected on Sept 1.

In 2024, there were

2,000 cases of students reported

for possessing or using e-vaporisers. This is up from 800 cases in 2022, and 900 cases in 2023.

The figures included those from institutes of higher learning.

Teachers in primary and secondary schools

said they were seeing more students sneaking around with vapes

, which can be disassembled and easily concealed, on school grounds.

The tender is the latest in a series of anti-vaping measures rolled out by the authorities in July.

On July 9, the Ministry of Health and Health Sciences Authority (HSA) issued a circular to public healthcare institutions telling them to

record all suspected and confirmed etomidate-linked vaping cases

and to get patients to surrender their vapes.

Etomidate is classified as a poison and regulated under the Poisons Act. It has clinical use as an anaesthetic agent, and is permitted only in clinical settings and subject to strict conditions.

On July 16, HSA said it took down more than

600 Telegram groups advertising or selling vapes

and Kpods – vapes containing etomidate – to Singaporeans since April 2024.

It had previously put up a tender to

buy a cyber-surveillance tool

designed to target illegal vaping activities online.

On July 20, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said the authorities were working to

list etomidate under the Misuse of Drugs Act

after one in three vapes confiscated here contained the substance.

A day later on July 21, HSA

extended the operating hours

for its reporting hotline and also put up an online reporting form for vapes.

On July 25, the

Bin The Vape initiative

was launched, with vape disposal bins installed at 23 community clubs and one residents’ network centre around Singapore. Users can throw away the devices without fear of punishment.

If you need help to quit vaping, join HPB’s I Quit Programme by calling the QuitLine on 1800-438-2000.

Participants need not worry about being prosecuted, as it does not presume that they use or have used vaping products. But those caught using or possessing such items will be prosecuted.

To report vaping-related offences, members of the public can call the HSA reporting hotline on 6684-2036 or 6684-2037 from 9am to 9pm daily, including on public holidays.

They can also make a report online at

www.go.gov.sg/reportvape