ENG-2019 — Page 201

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Health

vaccination programmes. Since the launch of various 2019-20 SIV programmes, the number of doses administered had increased 18 per cent year on year by end-2019.

Non-communicable Diseases

The major killers in Hong Kong are cancer, cardiovascular diseases including heart and cerebrovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes mellitus, which together accounted for about 57 per cent of all registered deaths in 2018.

The government is implementing Towards 2025: Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent and Control Non-communicable Diseases in Hong Kong. The action plan, launched in May 2018, sets out nine targets to be achieved by 2025 and a systematic portfolio of initiatives to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases.

The Cancer Coordinating Committee, chaired by the Secretary for Food and Health, steers and recommends strategies and work for the prevention and control of cancer, which claimed nearly 14,600 lives locally in 2018. In July 2019, the government launched the Hong Kong Cancer Strategy to reduce the cancer burden in the local population and improve the quality of life and survivorship of cancer patients. The government promotes as the primary preventive strategy the adoption of a healthy lifestyle, which includes no smoking, avoiding alcohol consumption, eating a balanced diet and engaging in regular physical activity. It also provides population-based cancer screening based on evidence. The department's Cervical Screening Programme encourages women aged between 25 and 64 who have ever had sex to undergo regular cervical cancer screening. In 2019, nearly 98,000 women were screened.

The department is implementing the Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme to subsidise in phases asymptomatic Hong Kong residents aged between 50 and 75 to undergo screening for the prevention of colorectal cancer. Around 167,300 participants had joined the programme as at end-2019.

Regulatory Activities

Healthcare Professionals

As at the year end, 15,004 doctors, 2,611 dentists, 10,173 listed and registered Chinese medicine practitioners, 59,082 registered and enrolled nurses, 4,483 midwives, 3,001 pharmacists, 262 chiropractors, 3,510 physiotherapists, 2,403 occupational therapists, 3,862 medical laboratory technologists, 2,250 optometrists, 2,479 radiographers and 495 dental hygienists were registered in Hong Kong.

The Pilot Scheme of Accredited Registers for Healthcare Professions enhances the society-based registration arrangements of healthcare professions not subject to statutory registration, so as to ensure the professional competency of healthcare professionals and provide more. information for the public to make informed decisions when choosing service providers. As at end-2019, the Hong Kong Institute of Speech Therapists, Hong Kong Institute of Audiologists, Hong Kong Academy of Accredited Dietitians, Hong Kong Association of Educational Psychologists and Hong Kong Institute of Clinical Psychologists had been accredited to be responsible for administering the registers of their professions. The pilot scheme will serve as

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