XN000022-1995-05-17 — Page 21

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That is not to say, however, that we are complacent. We know more can and must be done to help. That is why we have in recent years increased the rates for payments under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme at a pace far in excess of inflation; rates have increased by an average of 30% over and above inflation in the last three years.

The Declaration also made commitments with regard to the provision of health care. In this field, we are already doing exceptionally well in global terms. For instance, our infant mortality rate was 4.7 per 1,000 live births in 1993, which was comparable to 4.5 in the case of Japan in 1992 but significantly better than other advanced western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, the same figure of which stood at 6.6 and 8.5 respectively in 1992. In Hong Kong, the average life expectancy at birth is 81 years for females and 75 years for males, both of which compared favourably to corresponding indices of 79 and 74 in the case of the United Kingdom or 79 and 72 in the case of the United States.

The main thrust of our health policy is to safeguard and improve the health of our community through accessible and affordable health care for all. The comprehensive range of health services available, together with improvements in the standard of living, have fostered a good general level of health in Hong Kong.

Communicable diseases are well under control. In particular, vaccine preventable infectious diseases have been contained at a low level as a result of the very high coverage of our free immunisation programme for children against the 9 common childhood infectious diseases, together with other services provided at the Maternal and Child Health Centres.

The Summit's commitments also refer to the treatment of AIDS and HIV infection. Our policy on this is clear. It entails 4 basic components

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First, prevention of HIV infection and transmission; secondly, care of people with HIV/AIDS; thirdly, surveillance and control; fourthly, partnership in HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

Our emphasis is on the promotion of AIDS awareness and on combating prejudice and discrimination.

In health promotion, health education programmes are aimed at promoting healthy lifestyle practices for all and enhancing people's awareness of disease prevention.