The Department of Health (DH) today (December 1) held the Power of Love: World AIDS Campaign 2018 Kick-off Ceremony in support of World AIDS Day, which takes place on December 1 every year. The ceremony aims to deepen public understanding on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and its prevention, as well as appealing to them to help support people living with HIV.
      
     Officiating at the ceremony, the Under Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Chui Tak-yi, said, "In the first three quarters of 2018, 452 additional cases of HIV infections were recorded. Among them, nearly 30 per cent of the cases were aged 20 to 29, the highest proportion among all age groups, with the majority were men who had sex with men (MSM). It is particularly worrying that the public’s awareness and that of young people in particular of AIDS prevention remain inadequate, failing to protect themselves from peer influence on unsafe sex and drug abuse." He stressed the importance of proper use of condoms for safer sex.
 
     Dr Chui said that HIV infection can now be treated and controlled as a chronic disease. HIV testing facilitates early detection of HIV-infected people, and early treatment prolongs survival and improves quality of life. He encouraged infected people to seek treatment and care as early as possible.
 
　  Dr Chui added that the DH and a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) provide free, anonymous and completely confidential HIV rapid testing services. He appealed to high-risk groups, including MSM, to undergo testing every year, while anybody engaged in sexual activity should consider HIV testing if they have not been tested before, in order to act responsibly towards themselves and their partners.
 
　  To raise the public's understanding and awareness towards AIDS, in addition to organising the ceremony today, the DH's Red Ribbon Centre (RRC) has organised a series of promotional and public education activities under the theme "Power of Love" to reach out to the public via social platform, video and roadshow sessions at various community spots.
 
　  The RRC will hold a series of activities in December to disseminate health messages to the public on sex and AIDS. The DH hopes that the public will attend and support these events, as well as share the message on prevention of AIDS and help eliminate the negative stereotypes about the disease.
 
　　Promotional activities under the theme "Power of Love" include inviting key opinion leaders from various sectors of the community to spread the message about HIV prevention and show support to people living with HIV through social media platforms; setting up roadshow sessions in collaboration with an NGO at popular nightlife hot spots in Hong Kong and Kowloon to promote safer sex and early testing for prevention of HIV transmission; and producing a video to raise public awareness on the importance of early testing and treatment for HIV.
 
   Designated as a Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Collaborating Centre for Technical Support, the DH's RRC, with a mission to facilitate and enhance the community's response to HIV/AIDS, has already been closely working with AIDS service NGOs for many years to disseminate the World AIDS Campaign.
 
　　Other officiating guests today were the Director of Health, Dr Constance Chan; the Vice Director of the Institute of HIV/AIDS Control and Prevention of the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Yang Fang; the Deputy Ombudsman of the Health and Family Planning Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, Dr Zhang Yingji; the Head of Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Macao, Dr Lam Chong; the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS, Dr Patrick Li; the Chairman of the Council for the AIDS Trust Fund, Dr Thomas Lai; the Chairperson of the RRC Management Advisory Committee, Ms Victoria Kwong; and the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the DH, Dr Wong Ka-hing.
 
     The public may visit the DH's Virtual AIDS Office (www.aids.gov.hk), the RRC page (www.rrc.gov.hk), the AIDS Hotline website (www.27802211.com) and the Gay Men HIV Information website (www.21171069.com) for more information on HIV/AIDS.

      

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:    

     The spokesperson for Pok Oi Hospital (POH) made the following update announcement today (December 1), regarding a missing inpatient reported yesterday:

     POH staff found the missing patient (male, aged 64) in Yuen Long this morning and took him back to the hospital for medical examination immediately. He has been admitted for treatment in stable condition.

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, at a media session after attending a radio programme today (December 1):
 
Reporter: Can you explain about the eID?
 
Secretary for Innovation and Technology: First of all, I think there is a general misunderstanding about eID. eID is like a master key. The master key is linked to your biometric features, for example, your fingerprint, your facial recognition features, your gait or your voiceprint.  Voiceprint doesn’t mean your voice sound but the way you talk, sort of the emphasis you have.  All of these are through a government platform. We will use it to authenticate the eID when it’s used.  eID itself does not contain any personal information, personal data, zero. But in a virtual world it can be used as a very effective secure key to unlock your personal data stored at various databases, only through your own permission.  And this is a technology that widely recognised by countries like Estonia, even Singapore.  This is a very new technology.  It’s a way that you can be able to access data without revealing the personal identity.
 
Reporter: Do you think it will be popular in Hong Kong?
 
Secretary for Innovation and Technology: Our first plan is to use eID for all eGovernment services. That’s our first aim. As for the individual citizen and also for the private sector companies, we give them the option.  Because in Hong Kong, it is very important that we have to give people the option. We expect some of them will use eID, some of them will probably use their own method. But I believe if eID is developed on track, over the time, eID will turn out to be a very effective way to secure the access to personal data.  Thank you.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

     The Mainland Higher Education Expo 2018, jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and the Education Bureau (EDB) of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), is being held today and tomorrow (December 1 and 2) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. The Expo will enable students aspiring to pursue further studies on the Mainland to gain a better understanding of the Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions (Admission Scheme) in 2019, and also provides information on the participating institutions and their programmes.

     Speaking at the Expo's opening ceremony this morning, the Permanent Secretary for Education, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, said that the Admission Scheme has been well received by Hong Kong students, noting that around 3 200 students had applied under the Admission Scheme in the 2018/19 academic year for studying at Mainland universities. The number of participating institutions will increase to 110 under the 2019 Admission Scheme while the provision of specialised programmes not available in universities in Hong Kong by some of the newly joined institutions will allow students to choose from a wide array of institutions and programmes.

     She said that Hong Kong students, benefiting from the Mainland policies, could enjoy more convenience in education, setting up business, employment and living on the Mainland. In regard to development opportunities, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will give rise to a platform for Hong Kong students, leveraging the advantages of being innovative, flexible and familiar with the lifestyle on the Mainland, for brighter prospects under the national blueprint for development upon graduation.

     The HKSAR Government launched the Mainland University Study Subsidy Scheme in 2014. It includes two types of subsidies, namely "Means-tested subsidy" and "Non-means-tested subsidy", to support Hong Kong students in need who wish to pursue undergraduate studies on the Mainland under the Admission Scheme, and covers all financially needy Hong Kong students pursuing undergraduate studies at designated Mainland institutions, irrespective of the channels of their admission to the institutions. 

     The Expo is open to the public today from 10am to 7pm and tomorrow (Sunday) from 10am to 6pm at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. Admission is free.

     A total of 108 Mainland higher education institutions participating in the 2019 Admission Scheme will set up exhibition booths and organise talks to provide information on aspects such as faculties and subjects, admission criteria, the number of places and tuition fees. During the event, there will be talks by the Ministry of Education on details of the application procedures and admission arrangements under the Admission Scheme.

     There are briefing sessions conducted by representatives from the institutions on the characteristics and career prospects of individual programmes. Some Hong Kong graduates from Mainland institutions will talk about their study life on the Mainland at discussion sessions. In addition, representatives from the education and business sectors will give talks on the career prospects of students after their graduation from Mainland higher education institutions.

     The EDB and the Hok Yau Club have jointly compiled the "Handbook on the Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions". The handbook provides comprehensive information on the scheme and further study on the Mainland, including information on all of the institutions participating in the scheme, the programmes offered, strategies on programme choices, and sharing by graduates of Mainland universities. The handbook will be distributed free of charge at the Expo. The e-version will be posted on the EDB's website after the Expo (www.edb.gov.hk/expo18).

      

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (December 1):

Reporter: Regarding the flu jabs, do you think Hong Kong should inspect the quality of the flu jabs on itself? Regarding the Centre for Food Safety, do you think there is any serious mismanagement and how to improve it?

Secretary for Food and Health: As far as the flu vaccination is concerned, Hong Kong has a drug registration system to ensure that any drugs imported to Hong Kong are safe and effective, and that the quality of the drugs are up to a certain required standard. This mechanism has been going on for a long time, and we have successfully ensured all the drugs coming into Hong Kong are passing through this particular system. As far as surveillance of the drugs is concerned, for this particular incident, because there is public concern about this usual mechanism, we have taken samples to look at whether there are any particles in the vaccines and sent the samples to the laboratory. In the future, we will continue to look at the international standardised practice and see if there will be measures to manage particular incident and see how it goes.

     We reckon that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published a report in which some of the problems listed involve the work of the Centre for Food Safety. First of all, I have asked the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene and the Controller of the Centre for Food Safety to seriously look into the report to see what measures they should take in order to improve those situation that have listed in the report. Hong Kong always has an effective surveillance system. Every year the Centre for Food Safety has taken 65 000 samples in Hong Kong including imported food, as well as at different levels including import, distribution, retail and so on. So far food safety is actually ensured because 99.9 percent of the food are safe according to the test of the Centre for Food Safety. The Centre for Food Safety has also recently strengthened its manpower and is starting to look into how best to improve data collection and also the traceability of food incidents. A lot of work is actually ongoing, but the PAC report has found these cross-sectional problems, therefore the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene will seriously look into it. If there are issues about the need of more manpower and more resources, we will provide in order to ensure surveillance and control on food safety in Hong Kong is done well.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)