In the Media

A press conference hosted by The Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) urged the Hong Kong government to increase the tobacco tax, now set at 100% of the retail price, to nearly HK$100 per pack.

The Council commissioned HKU’s School of Public Health and School of Nursing to conduct a survey during September 2018 to March 2019, in which almost 80 percent of the 2,000 respondents supported the tax increase. Some 280 smokers were among the respondents and 36.4 percent supported the increase. 70.9 percent of all respondents agreed to an annual increase.

(RTHK English News, TVB News, Topick.hket.com, Oriental Daily – January 14, 2020; The Standard – January 15, 2020)

The School launched a video on social media to debunk myths about COVID-19 and provide tips on anti-epidemic measures. This video was shared virally on social media and was reported in local news outlet, HK01, and in Taiwan’s Liberty Times.

The video explains that one should wash his/her hands first when arriving home, then wash hands again after removing the mask. It also shows that it is necessary to wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand rub if water is not accessible, and recommends people not to re-use masks.

Given there are rumours circulating about the virus, the video aims to help the general public distinguish facts from fiction.

(HK01 – February 7 & 8, 2020; Liberty Times - February 12, 2020)

Following the first video on anti-epidemics, the School launched a second video on social media that focused on domestic hygiene and daily life. The video covers the use of bleach and domestic hygiene, and the proper steps for washing hands thoroughly, etc. These two videos are also covered under “School Highlights” of this Newsletter.

(China Daily – May 27, 2019)

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) was awarded a gold in the “Hong Kong Smoke-free Leading Company Awards 2019”. Dr William Li, Associate Professor of School of Nursing and Director of Youth Quitline, conducted an interview with Master-Insight <灼見名家>.

Dr Li explained that HKU has been a smoke free campus since 2002 and has been raising awareness about tobacco hazards among students and staff. The School established two smoking cessation hotlines for young people aged 25 or below and for female smokers in 2005 and 2006, respectively, which provide telephone counseling. More than 2,500 young people and about 600 female smokers have used the service. 40% of them cut their cigarette consumption in half or successfully quit smoking.

(Master-Insight.com – May 18, 2020)

Dr Patsy Chau, Associate Professor, was interviewed by TV programme, Medicine Online <杏林在線>. The programme, broadcast on Now News and ViuTV, features the School’s AI robot “NAO” demonstrating Tai-Chi to the elderly at a health talk for the “Healthy Ageing in Public Rental Housing Estates Programme”. Dr Chau indicated that the use of robots could draw older people’s attention and encourage them to do more exercise to achieve healthy ageing.

(Now News – May 22, 2020 & Viu TV Channel 99 – May 23, 2020)

The RTHK Radio and RTHK TV31 Programme, Health Pedia <精靈一點>, interviewed Dr Kelvin Wang, Associate Professor, to talk about the “Quit to Win” contest and how chat-based instant messaging support could help smokers to quit.

Since 2009, COSH has organised a “Quit to Win” Smoke-free Community Campaign in collaboration with HKU’s School of Nursing and School of Public Health. The campaign reaches more than 1,000 smokers to engage them in taking steps to quit. It disseminates smoke-free messages through districtbased promotion activities and media and provides training in smoking cessation counselling. The “Quit to Win” contest draws on scientific research to design and evaluate different interventions for smoking cessation and recommend improvements to the existing smoking cessation services in Hong Kong.

(RTHK Radio 1 and RTHK TV31 – June 4, 2020)