Seminar on healthy ageing marks 20th anniversary of DH’s Elderly Health Service (with photos)

     The Department of Health (DH) held the 20th Anniversary Ceremony of the Elderly Health Service (EHS) cum Seminar on Promoting Healthy Ageing today (October 13), providing a networking platform for various stakeholders to exchange experiences and views on EHS work and explore initiatives to further promote healthy ageing.
 
     Speaking at the Ceremony, the Director of Health, Dr Constance Chan, said that since the establishment of the EHS in 1998, it has been providing integrated primary health care, including preventive, promotive and curative services, to the elderly to address their health needs by using a multi-disciplinary team approach. The EHS safeguards the health of elderly people through collaborating with different sectors of the community.
 
     Dr Chan added that similar to many regions around the globe, Hong Kong faces an increasing problem of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which is compounded by an ageing population. To combat the threat of NCDs, the Government this year announced "Towards 2025: Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent and Control Non-communicable Diseases in Hong Kong", setting out nine local targets to be achieved by 2025, which include containing the prevalence of raised blood pressure, reducing the prevalence of insufficient physical activity, reducing the mean population intake of salt/sodium and halting the rise in diabetes and obesity.
 
     Dr Chan reminded the participants that the most effective way to help prevent NCDs is to develop healthy living habits.
 
     Dr Chan also took the opportunity to express her sincere gratitude to every counterpart for their long-term support for the EHS, which helped it reach a greater number of elderly persons and facilitate the provision of more diversified and targeted services. She said she looks forward to the continuous contribution of the EHS to the well-being of the elderly in collaboration with the partners in the future.
    
     At the Seminar, a guest speaker was invited to share findings of research on healthy ageing. DH representatives and working partners from the social welfare sector also spoke on the experiences and results gained from various jointly launched projects, including the Community Carer Capacity Building Programme and the Medical Social Collaboration Pilot Project that took place at Elderly Health Centres.
   
     For more information on the EHS and elderly health, please visit the website of the EHS of the DH.