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Health

30 million outpatient visits each year. NGOs operate community clinics, and many also organise health promotions and educational activities. Some NGOs provide health assessments for the elderly and medical check-ups for women.

The public sector provides primary health care mainly through the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority. The Hospital Authority operates 73 general outpatient clinics, including community health centres. Service users are mainly the elderly, low-income families and chronic disease patients. In 2020, some 1.62 million people used these services, with 5.75 million attendances recorded.

To enhance district-based primary health care, the bureau aims to set up district health centres in all 18 districts. Each centre will be operated by an NGO with government funding to promote medical-social collaboration, public-private partnership and district-based services. It will focus on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, including health promotion, health assessment, chronic disease management and community rehabilitation. The first district health centre, in Kwai Tsing, began operation in September 2019, and operators were commissioned in September 2020 to operate centres in Sham Shui Po and Wong Tai Sin from June 2021 and June 2022 respectively.

Family Health

The department's Family Health Service disseminates information on children's and women's health. The department provides health promotion and disease prevention services through its 31 maternal and child health centres (MCHCs) and three women's health centres for children from birth to five years of age and women aged 64 or below respectively. MCHCS offer an Integrated Child Health and Development Programme for parents and caregivers to promote the holistic health and well-being of children.

For women, MCHCs and women's health centres offer antenatal, postnatal, family planning and cervical screening services, as well as health education on areas including psycho-social health, personal relationships, physical health and healthy lifestyles. Some 18,000 expectant mothers and 40,000 newborn children attended MCHCs in 2020.

The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong offers services and information on sexual and reproductive health treatment and counselling. In 2020, more than 270,000 people used its services or took part in its programmes.

Student Health

The department has 13 student health service centres and four special assessment centres, providing health screening and individual counselling to primary and secondary students. In the 2019-20 school year, about 632,000 students joined these programmes. School health inspectors check schools' hygiene conditions in accordance with the Education Ordinance, while the department's Centre for Health Protection sends school immunisation teams to primary schools every year to give students free vaccinations.

Under the School Dental Care Service, the department's eight school dental clinics provided preventive dental services, including annual check-ups and basic care, in the 2019-20 school

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