Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ4: Obesity and overweight
Following is a question by the Hon Frederick Fung and a reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (October
20):
Question:
It has been reported that the problem of obesity in Hong Kong is very serious,
with the obesity rate among school children rising from 16.7% in the 1996-1997
school year to 22.2% in the 2008-2009 school year, representing a drastic
increase of 5.5 percentage point within a decade; and it seems that the various
healthy lifestyle campaigns launched by the Government all these years were not
effective. For example, 171 primary schools participated in the "EatSmart@school.hk"
campaign implemented in 2009, but the number of accredited schools was minimal;
moreover, the obesity or overweight rate among the people in Hong Kong remains
high at 40%, coming close to the level of 60% in the countries in Europe and
America, which poses higher risks of chronic diseases and a heavy burden on
long-term healthcare expenditure. In this connection, will the Government inform
this Council:
(a) of the overall strategy currently employed by the Government to promote a
healthy lifestyle among the people, including healthy eating and sports for all,
etc.; apart from the assessment of food consumption patterns of primary students
conducted in 2008, whether the authorities had reviewed, in past five years, the
efficacy of the various initiatives and campaigns implemented to promote a
healthy lifestyle and people's eating habits; if they had, of the outcome and
the reasons for the failure or success of the initiatives and campaigns; if not,
whether the authorities will conduct a review; and
(b) whether the authorities will set short-term and medium-term targets for
reducing the obesity or overweight rate among the people in Hong Kong to a low
level, and adopt enhanced, or even mandatory, measures to reverse the current
high calories, high fat and high sugar eating environment in Hong Kong and to
develop a habit of regular exercise, so as to achieve those targets, e.g.
regulating advertisements and publicity of junk food, prohibiting schools from
selling junk food, requiring lunch box suppliers in schools to provide healthy
menu, banning the sale of junk food and beverages through vending machines in
public places and government facilities managed by the authorities (e.g. parks,
games halls and office buildings of government departments, etc.), encouraging
schools and employers to provide students and employees with more opportunities
for exercise, and establishing more sports facilities?
Reply:
President,
The rising trend of overweight and obesity has largely been attributed to the
lifestyles of unhealthy dietary habits, wide availability of high fat and sugary
foods and lack of physical activity. Medical researches indicate that such
unhealthy lifestyles cause many non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as heart
disease and diabetes. In this connection, the Government has been actively
promoting a healthy lifestyle with a view to improving the health of the public.
My reply to Hon Fung's question is as follows:
(a) With a view to improving the health of the public and to mitigate the burden
brought by NCD, the Department of Health (DH) has launched the "Strategic
Framework for Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases" ("the
Framework") in October 2008 with the objectives to foster a healthy environment,
promote community health, prevent NCD and reduce the progression of NCD and
avoidable hospital admissions, and provide high quality care for NCD. Meanwhile,
we have set up a Steering Committee on Prevention and Control of
Non-communicable Diseases comprising representatives from the Government, public
and private sectors, academia and professional bodies, related industries and
other key partners to oversee the development of the Framework and the progress
of its implementation. To address the pressing problem of obesity, a working
group has been established under the Steering Committee to handle matters
related to diet and physical activity. The working group launched in September
this year an "Action Plan to Promote Healthy Diet and Physical Activity
Participation in Hong Kong" which outlines the specific actions to be taken by
various government departments and relevant organisations in the promotion of
healthy diet and physical activity participation in Hong Kong in the coming few
years. The Action Plan is available on the website of DH.
DH has all along been in collaboration with the related sectors in launching a
number of major territory-wide health promotion and publicity campaigns, which
are in line with the initiatives advocated by the World Health Organisation in
its "Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health". These campaigns
include the "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign and the "EatSmart@restaurant.hk"
Campaign, etc. In the 2009/10 school year, over 400 primary schools (including
special schools) participated in the major activities of the "EatSmart@school.hk"
Campaign, representing about 65% of all primary schools in the territory. As for
the "EatSmart School Accreditation Scheme", which was launched since the 2009/10
school year under the umbrella of the "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign, 171 primary
schools have participated in the Scheme with 16 of them having attained
accreditation so far. According to the findings of the Baseline Assessment of
Promoting Healthy Eating in Primary Schools conducted by DH in 2008, there were
significant increases in the proportion of students who chose healthier food and
in the proportions of students and parents who would take account of nutritional
values in choosing their food in comparison with the assessment conducted in
2006.
As breastfeeding can prevent subsequent childhood overweight and dietary habits
developed during infancy play a crucial role in shaping an individual's eating
patterns, DH has been promoting breastfeeding and enhancing the training of
healthcare personnel. At present, DH monitors the trend of local breastfeeding
rate through collecting monthly reports from all public and private maternity
units. The ever breastfeeding rate in Hong Kong increased from 50% for babies
born in 1997 to 73% for those born in 2008.
The "EatSmart@restaurant.hk" Campaign launched by DH has received favourable
response and support from the catering sector. So far over 1,000 catering
workers have received training and 613 restaurants are providing EatSmart Dishes
to customers under the Campaign.
(b) As I have mentioned earlier, the Administration attaches much weight to the
issue of NCD caused by obesity and overweight. We have been promoting awareness
of the importance of healthy eating habits among different age groups through
various channels.
To further collect information on the diet and physical activity participation
of infants and young children in Hong Kong, DH is currently conducting a series
of surveys on parental knowledge, attitude and practice of feeding infants and
young children, the level of physical activity of infants and young children as
well as their food and nutrient intakes. In addition, DH will collaborate with
some 30 pre-primary institutions to conduct a pilot project with a view to
extending the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity participation to
all pre-primary institutions in Hong Kong in the light of the actual experience
gained.
As for the issue of obesity among school children, dieticians will provide
individual counselling for school children who are overweight during the health
check-up currently provided by DH for primary one to secondary seven students.
In light of individual circumstances, school children who are overweight will be
referred to the Hospital Authority (HA) for follow-up by a specialist in
paediatrics or invited to join DH's Regular Exercise and Fitness Training Course
or HA's Exercise and Keep Fit Course. Since 2009, DH has also informed the
schools of the number of their students who have been identified as overweight
over the last school year, with an aim to encourage the schools to promote
healthy eating and regular exercise among their students, and give their support
to build a healthy school environment for school children to practise healthy
lifestyles.
To provide guidance and assistance for schools in developing a healthier and
more sustainable eating environment in schools, DH has launched the "EatSmart
School Accreditation Scheme" since the 2009/10 school year. Under the Scheme,
schools are motivated to develop top-down and bottom-up policies and measures on
healthy diet, and with full cooperation between home and school, to effectively
implement the food quality requirements issued by DH regarding the supply of
lunch and food available at school tuck shops/vending machines. This serves to
ensure that there will be a "nutrition friendly" environment for school children
in their learning and nurturing.
In addition, DH has also launched an outreaching Adolescent Health Programme to
conduct activities in secondary schools to promote students' psychosocial
health. The activities are targeted at the youth's concern over their bodyweight
and self-image, and other issues related to nutrition information and
development of a healthy lifestyle. DH has also continued its collaboration with
the Leisure and Cultural Services Department to promote the participation of
people of different ages in the "Healthy Exercise for All Campaign" and
encouraged students to join the School Sports Programme in support of the
Education Bureau's policy.
President, from the experience we have gained from the above campaigns launched
to promote healthy eating, it can be seen that the public are well aware and
recognise the importance of healthy eating. Nevertheless, dietary patterns and
choice of food are closely related to daily lifestyle and socio-cultural
factors. The effective tackling of the issue of overweight in our population
requires concerted efforts from our society as a whole and collaboration between
the Government, public and private organisations, academic and professional
bodies, media and members of the public and also needs to be proceeded in a
systematic and step-by-step manner to ensure more cost-effective utilisation of
resources. Through implementation of the "Strategic Framework for Prevention and
Control of Non-communicable Diseases" as well as various measures and
activities, we will continue to actively promote a healthy eating culture and
public awareness of the importance of regular exercise with a view to improving
health of the public.
Ends/Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:33
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