In the Media

Professor Kelvin Wang Man-ping attended a press conference organised by the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) which urged the Government to raise tobacco tax by 100% from HK$38 to HK$76.

According to COSH’s Tobacco Control Policy-related Survey 2022, more than 70% of citizens support increasing tobacco tax in the next year. Professor Wang said, “Public support for raising tobacco tax next year is high. A doubling of the current tax to increase the retail price of a cigarette pack to about HK $100 would encourage about two-thirds of current smokers to quit or reduce their daily cigarette consumption. Even 60% of current smokers without quit intention or with high nicotine dependence would quit or reduce current cigarette consumption due to the increased retail price of cigarettes.”

Also attending the press conference were Professor Lam Tai-hing, Emeritus Professor and Honorary Clinical Professor, and Dr Daniel Ho Sai-yin, Associate Professor, both from HKU’s School of Public Health.

(HK01, Ming Pao, on.cc – December 13, 2022; Ming Pao Vancouver, Ming Pao, sina.com.hk, Sing Tao Daily – December 14, 2022; Hong Kong Economic Times – December 15, 2022)

Although the tobacco tax ultimately was not doubled, the Financial Secretary did announce an increase of about 30% in tobacco tax in the 2022-2023 Budget. Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Director of the HKU Primary Health Care Academy and Professor in the School, welcomed the move. “Raising tobacco tax is the single most effective measure, which can motivate smokers to quit smoking, prevent relapse among those who recently quit, and deter youth from smoking initiation. The measure could also reduce healthcare expenditure and productivity loss associated with tobacco use, thereby promoting the sustainable development of public healthcare.”

The Smoking Cessation Research Team at the School of Nursing, HKUMed, has long generated research evidence and been at the forefront advocating tobacco control policies, including higher tobacco taxes. It will continue to provide research evidence for tobacco control, for instance on reducing second-hand smoke exposure among children and the public, and advocate for other tobacco control policies.

(RTHK, Metro Radio, Wen Wei Po, Ta Kung Pao, Hong Kong Commercial Daily, AM730, HK01, Bastille Post, DotDotNews, Hong Kong Free Press, SCMP – February 22, 2023; The Standard, Oriental Daily News – February 23, 2023; intellasia.net – February 24, 2023)

Meanwhile, Professor Chan also cautioned that re-exporting e-cigarettes through Hong Kong might weaken the city’s tobacco control initiatives. “Re-export of alternative smoking products through air cargo is exempted from the tobacco ban as authorities want to support the logistics sector. This is a risky move for tobacco control as Hong Kong aims to reduce its smoking population from 9.5% to 7.8%.” She suggested to raise further the tobacco tax and expand the no-smoking area.

And Professor Wang noted that there were many relapse cases in the HKU Youth Quitline, which has a hotline targeting smoking cessation services to youngsters. He said the quitline ambassadors would therefore actively contact smokers and provide information to them to reduce their chance of a relapse.

(The Standard, RTHK English online news, Now news, TVB news, i-cable online news, RTHK Chinese instant news, CRHK online news, Metro Radio online news, Ming Pao instant news, Sing Tao Headline, On.cc, HKEJ instant news, HKCD online news, HK01.com, Orange news – May 28, 2023; The Standard, Oriental Daily News – May 29, 2023)

The “Generations Connect” project was launched this year, following a pilot project started last November, in which HKU School of Nursing visited elderly residents to understand their needs and offered support. Particularly during the pandemic, the older adults were often confined to tiny homes for long periods and prone to emotional problems. The students conducted health assessments, gave basic medical recommendations and provided electronic technology coaching, which helped the elderly people to obtain the latest information.

Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Project Director of “Generations Connect”, remarked on the two-way benefits involved: “This initiative enhances the empathy of students, and at the same time, through communications, the physical and mental health of the elderly can be improved. We hope more elderly can be benefitted from this project.”

(TVB News – December 17, 2022; Now TV – January 23, 2023)

A press event for the “Generations Connect” project was held on March 24, where experiences of the pilot scheme were shared. Nursing students had visited more than 100 older adults to do surveys and assessments of their physical and mental health.

Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee outlined the measured impacts of this form of community intervention and behavioural coaching. “We observed that those older adults with a high level of e-Health Literacy have better physical, psychosocial and mental well-being. As the size of the older population grows, social and medical care demands increase. The pilot study found that among the 70% of older adults who completed a two-week follow-up, the share of those with a low e-Health Literacy dropped from 66% to 56%, providing initial evidence that the intervention by nursing students is useful in strengthening their e-Health Literacy.”

“In addition, the Project received very positive feedback from the students, who demonstrated a higher level of affective empathy, intellectual empathy and self-efficacy after participation. Nearly 90% of them believe that this experience helped them improve their communication skills with the older adults, become better listeners, and gain better knowledge in health and care for older adults.”

The two-year “Generations Connect” project was officially launched early this year and involves more than 1,000 healthcare professional students – not only those in nursing – who are expected to provide services to 10,000 older adults and assist them in adapting to post-pandemic life and taking care of their physical, psychological, and mental health and wellbeing.

(RTHK, Commercial Radio, Sing Tao Headline, HKET, Wen Wei Po, Ming Pao, TVB News – March 24, 2023; Bastille Post – March 27, 2023)

A project on “Strengths-based Intervention” led by Professor Doris Yu Sau-fung has helped caregivers achieve significant improvements in their sense of life cohesion, mental health, expected burden, and depression. The study involved 350 family caregivers of people with dementia who were prompted to recall successful past care experiences (such as handling their patient’s behavioural problems well) and the reasons for success (such as the external environment or regulation of their own emotions), keep a record of these and apply them in daily care. The caregivers, who were aged 30-89, were also guided to set goals and write down ways of improving care outcomes, which were combined with past success factors to formulate action plans. The project was able to re-affirm and boost caregivers’ dedication and abilities.

(Oriental Daily News – February 4, 2023)

Dr Kevin Luk Tzu-tsun, Research Assistant Professor, published an article in Oriental Daily News about waterpipe smoking among youngsters. In recent years, more and more bars in Hong Kong offer waterpipe smoking, which is mistakenly believed to contain fewer carcinogens and nicotine than tobacco. In fact, waterpipe smoking contains similar levels of nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and carcinogens, as tobacco. Moreover, the water in the waterpipe reduces the temperature of the smoke and increases the moisture, making the smoke easier to inhale, but it cannot filter out the harmful substances in the smoke. As a result, the amount of smoke inhaled by waterpipe smoking for one hour is equivalent to smoking 100 to 200 traditional cigarettes, and the nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide intake is several to dozens of times higher than that of smoking traditional cigarettes. In addition, because it is difficult to disinfect waterpipes thoroughly, sharing them increases the risk of disease transmission. Young people therefore are warned to stay away from waterpipe smoking.

(Oriental Daily News – February 11, 2023)

Hong Kong has seen a sharp increase in prostate cancer cases in recent years. In February, Dr Edmond Choi Pui-hang, Assistant Professor, published an article about the need for screening. Prostate cancer is now the fourth most prevalent cancer in the city, and third most prevalent among men. In 2020, a total 2,315 new cases were reported, according to the Hong Kong Cancer Registry of the Hospital Authority.

Early symptoms are not obvious. When there are symptoms, they tend to be similar to those of a benign prostate gland enlargement – in such cases, patients should get a medical check-up as soon as possible to find out the underlying cause. There are two ways to screen for prostate cancer, digital rectal examination and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. If the doctor finds anything abnormal during the screening, further tests, such as a prostate ultrasound scan and biopsy, will be done. People with high-risk factors or related symptoms can consult with their doctors and follow the doctor’s advice for examination.

(Oriental Daily News – February 18, 2023)

Professor Chia-Chin Lin, Director and Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Charity Foundation Professor in Nursing, reported on a study of Advance Directives in patients with terminal illnesses that found a deep lack of awareness in Hong Kong.

Advance Directives help patients to make choices before they are incapable of doing so, specifying their preferences for medical services and treatments to avoid unnecessary pain, and enabling them to leave with dignity. Yet the study by the School, in which researchers visited more than 30 residential care homes for the elderly, found that only 10% of the elderly had heard about Advance Directives. Once the purpose was explained to them, about 40% expressed interest. Most believe that quality of life and comfort are more important than prolonging life, and hope to be able to accept palliative care at residential care homes.

The study showed that Hong Kong needs to reinforce the publicity and education of the elderly and family caregivers on Advance Directives, and most importantly, assist the older adults in discussing their wishes with family members.

(Oriental Daily News – February 25, 2023)

The School of Nursing launched the free Breastfeeding GPS app four years to help users search for nearby nursing rooms according to their locations. Assistant Professor Dr Kris Lok Yuet-wan, who is Project Leader, shared experiences in designing the app, data analysis and more.

The “Breastfeeding GPS” defines nursing rooms as being a separate room that is lockable and has a changing board (no mattress), hand washing amenities, power plug and a seat. The app was available for download in April 2019, supported by a government fund to promote breastfeeding and even train nursing room staff in shopping malls.

Currently, there are about 600 nursing rooms in Hong Kong. Dr Lok said that it is becoming more convenient to find breastfeeding-related facilities and that awareness of breastfeeding has improved in these 10 years.

As of March this year, “Breastfeeding GPS” had been downloaded more than 9,300 times and some 8,800 users had opened the app a total of more than 640,000 times. Dr Lok said, “To support mothers of different age cohorts, the app can be linked to Facebook, IG and YouTube. We noticed that even many daddies have downloaded the app, too!”

(Hong Kong Economic Journal – May 12, 2023)

The HKU School of Nursing has signed a student exchange agreement with Tzu Chi University in Taiwan, which will kickstart an exchange of strengths and experiences. The agreement was signed by Professor Tai-chu Peng, Professor & Director of Department of Nursing at Tzu Chi University and the School’s Director, Professor Chia-Chin Lin.

Professor Lin said, “Tzu Chi University emphasises medical humanities. We had discussed cooperation and exchange earlier, but had to postpone formalising an agreement due to the epidemic. We are grateful that this agreement can be implemented now. We will start with short-term student exchange and academic activities and communications, and explore new areas of collaboration.”

Professor Peng said Tzu Chi University can learn from the internationalisation of HKU. She looks forward to seeing more collaborations and teacher and student exchanges with the international community.

(Commercial Times, ChinaTimes.com – May 15, 2023, TC News – May 16, 2023)