HEALTH
83
The 'Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign', which began in 1972 and continued on until the end of March 1973, achieved remarkable success. The campaign, although planned and overseen by the Urban Council, covered the New Territories as well as the urban areas. It reached its peak in November 1972 with a massive clean-up in which the entire community joined forces with the government to fight filth and to create cleaner living conditions generally. It was decided that this success should be firmly and vigorously built upon. Therefore, the campaign continued in 1973 with constant pressure being maintained to prevent any major decline in the standards which had been achieved. However, one area of cleansing in which the results were considered to be less successful was that of the communal areas inside and immediately surrounding buildings. This was particularly the multi-storey, multi-purpose, multi- ownership buildings of which there are approximately 20,000 of three storeys or more in urban Hong Kong.
Phase Two of the 'Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign' concentrated on the clean- liness of buildings. From August to October 1973 a two-month long operation known as 'Clean Our Buildings' was launched involving extensive publicity, the mobilisation of resources of numerous government departments and the active participation of volunteers from area committees. Towards the end of the campaign, newly formed units of community co-operation, the 'Mutual Aid Committee', increased still further the involvement of people drawn from all strata of society.
This year, the operation took the form of a systematic block-by-block inspection of buildings by teams of Urban Services Department officers. They advised residents on all matters relating to cleanliness and hygiene, and helped remove unwanted junk, and generally clean the internal communal areas, rooftops, canopies and back lanes.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the campaign in 1973 was the interest aroused among school children in all matters related to environmental hygiene. This resulted in the formation of 531 'anti-litter groups' in primary schools and 41 'con- servancy groups' in secondary schools.
The hygiene staff, consisting mainly of the health inspectorate, is responsible for the maintenance of environmental sanitation and for the hygiene control of all types of food business, food and drink, and laundries. Regular inspection of domestic premises is carried out by health inspectors, who are also responsible for investiga- ting complaints of sanitary nuisances and for the prevention of fly and mosquito breeding. Investigations into food poisoning cases and control of infectious diseases are carried out in close liaison with the Medical and Health Department. All appli- cations for licences in the urban areas (other than hawker licences) issued under the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance and its subsidiary legislation are dealt with by a central licensing unit which ensures that only premises that comply with the statutory standard of hygiene are granted licences. During the year, 11,700 licensed premises, including the New Territories, were regularly inspected by the health staff.
The food inspection and certification unit provides valuable services for the control of imported food, including milk and frozen confection, and meat and poultry. Measures are being taken to tighten control over the importation of meat