ENG-2017 — Page 203

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Health

The department's [email protected] campaign encourages restaurants to provide healthier choices for the community. Nearly 650 restaurants joined the campaign in 2017.

Joyful@Healthy Workplace is carried out jointly by the department and the Occupational Safety and Health Council. As at December, the programme had drawn over 700 organisations involving 260,000 employees.

AIDS Counselling and Education

The department's Red Ribbon Centre works with community partners to enhance public awareness and prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and to promote the care and acceptance of HIV patients. In 2017, the centre organised 74 major activities for 81,700 participants.

Information on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), sexually transmitted infections and multilingual AIDS hotlines is available at the department's website.

Appointments for counselling and HIV antibody tests may be made on the hotline 2780 2211 or the 27802211 website. In 2017, the hotline received about 19,150 calls. Nurse counsellors handled 19,100 calls for AIDS counselling, while about 897,000 condoms were distributed to promote safer sex. There are also a 21171069 website and a Gay Men HIV Testing Hotline (2117 1069), which received 145 calls in 2017 for counselling and HIV antibody tests.

Organ Donation and Transplant

The department, working with the Hospital Authority, healthcare professional bodies and NGOs, promotes organ donation on different fronts. The promotion work is coordinated by the Committee on Promotion of Organ Donation. It invites companies, schools and other organisations to become partners and signatories of the Organ Donation Promotion Charter to promote organ donation.

By end-2017, more than 550 organisations had signed the charter, and more than 278,000 people had registered with the Centralised Organ Donation Register to express their wish to donate their organs after death.

The number of patients waiting for kidney, liver, heart and double-lung transplants stood at 2,153, 87, 48 and 20 respectively. During the year, there were 40 liver, 61 renal, 13 heart, 12 double-lung and 367 cornea donations from the deceased in public hospitals. There was one single-lung donation.

The Human Organ Transplant Ordinance regulates the transplant of human organs and import of human organs for transplant purposes, and prohibits commercial dealings in human organs intended for transplant. Approval from the statutory Human Organ Transplant Board is required for the transplant of human organs between living persons who are not genetically related or a couple whose marriage has subsisted for not more than three years. In 2017, the board received 20 applications for organ transplants between living non-related persons and Hong Kong imported 46 human organs for transplant purposes.

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