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Health

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 56 per cent of all registered deaths in 2019.

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 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 14,900 lives locally in 2019. The government's Hong Kong Cancer Strategy aims 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 2020, around 17,700 women were screened.

The department fully implemented the Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme on 1 January, subsidising asymptomatic Hong Kong residents aged between 50 and 75 to undergo screening for the prevention of colorectal cancer. In 2020, nearly 62,000 participants were screened.

In November, the department commenced a Population Health Survey to update information on the population's health status, health-related lifestyles and other health parameters.

Regulatory Activities

Healthcare Professionals

As at 31 December, 15,298 doctors, 2,651 dentists, 10,449 listed and registered Chinese medicine practitioners, 61,295 registered and enrolled nurses, 4,561 midwives, 3,097 pharmacists, 282 chiropractors, 3,685 physiotherapists, 2,571 occupational therapists, 3,983 medical laboratory technologists, 2,266 optometrists, 2,554 radiographers and 497 dental hygienists were registered in Hong Kong.

The Pilot Accredited Registers Scheme for Healthcare Professions enhances the society-based registration arrangements for 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 31 December, 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

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