ENG-1981 — Page 147

HEALTH

103

District and regional pest control units carried out measures to prevent and control rodents, mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, fleas and other pests. The measures employed include regular inspections of infested areas, public health educational campaign, the destruction of breeding places, the application of pesticides, and law enforcement.

In 1981, the health education section organised a number of publicity campaigns on various health topics and ran food hygiene courses for the catering trade. In addi- tion, lectures were given to school children, Vietnamese refugees and voluntary welfare agencies. Contests and competitions were also held in schools to promote health education.

During the year, 59 student health inspectors and 18 health inspectors completed training courses at the Urban Services Department's Environmental Health Training School in Oi Kwan Road, Wan Chai. For more specialised training, 10 experienced health inspectors were sent abroad to study health education, administration, food technology, noise control and solid wastes management.

Markets

=

In the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, the Urban Council runs 51 public markets with more than 5 400 stalls. The trade is almost exclusively retail sale of fresh foodstuffs such as meat, fish, poultry, vegetables and fruit. Commodities sold, however, have diversified over the years and now include various types of general retail merchandise such as haberdashery and household goods. This diversification has become necessary as increasing numbers of on-street hawkers have been accommodated in new market buildings.

Many-existing public markets are accommodated in old buildings with out-of-date facilities and it is the policy of the Urban Council to re-develop these markets into modern multi-purpose market complexes with other facilities such as games halls, rest gardens, libraries and auditoria for the performing arts. During 1981, five new markets at Hollywood Road, Tin Wan and Yue Kwong Road on Hong Kong Island, and Hammer Hill and Ngau Tau Kok in Kowloon were completed. The Ngau Tau Kok market complex is a joint venture with the Hong Kong Housing Authority. The number of new stalls provided during the year came to 1 289.

In the New Territories, the government runs 31 public markets outside of public housing estates with accommodation for more than 2 800 stallholders. Two new markets were completed during the year, giving an additional 483 stalls.

Hawkers

The management and control of hawkers in the urban areas is the responsibility of the Urban Council while the government undertakes this work in the New Territories. There are 38 000 licensed hawkers throughout the territory of whom over 5 000 are situated in off-street bazaars. The number of unlicensed hawkers tends to fluctuate from year to year, but it was estimated that there were about 20 000 unlicensed hawkers in 1981.

The main objectives of the authorities are to reduce on-street hawking by moving hawkers as soon as possible into public markets and to confine on-street hawkers to licensed fixed pitches in clearly defined areas for environmental reasons.

Under the control of district Urban Services Officers, the General Duties Teams have a manpower of over 2 300. The teams work in close co-operation with the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in containing the problem of illegal hawking and taking necessary enforce- ment action.