Public Health in Hong Kong

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Public Health in Hong Kong

• Thomas Abraham
• JMSC 0054

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Last class

• We looked at what public health was and we talked
  about epidemiology, one of the foundations of
  public health.
• Lets do an online simulation exercise to
  understand how public health agencies work
• http//www.mclph.umn.edu/watersedge/play.html

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What are some of the professional functions that
we find in a public health agency?

• Epidemiologists
• Laboratory
• Health information/communication
• Nurses/doctors
• Health planners

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The CHP in Hong Kong

• Let us explore what the CHP does
• http//www.chp.gov.hk

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How do we know if a disease outbreak is serious?

• Endemic Diseases that are always present in the
  population at a certain level
• Epidemic Cases of a disease in a population that
  are substantially greater than expected
• Pandemic An epidemic on a global scale
• What infectious diseases are endemic in Hong Kong?

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• Which diseases are the leading causes of death in
  Hong Kong?
• Go the press releases issued recently by the
  Centre for Health Protection. Are there any that
  could become the basis for a news report?

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Next week

• How not to report a disease outbreak..a case
  study of the recent flu outbreak
• What you need to know about writing a public
  health story.
• Homework Look at the last seven days Hong Kong
  newspapers ( SCMP or Chinese newspapers) and make
  a list of public health stories that have been
  reported. We will discuss in class.