今早為Asian Medical Students Association Hong Kong (AMSAHK)的新一屆執行委員會就職典禮作致詞分享嘉賓,題目為「疫情中的健康不公平」。
感謝他們的熱情款待以及為整段致詞拍了影片。以下我附上致詞的英文原稿:
It's been my honor to be invited to give the closing remarks for the Inauguration Ceremony for the incoming executive committee of the Asian Medical Students' Association Hong Kong (AMSAHK) this morning. A video has been taken for the remarks I made regarding health inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic (big thanks to the student who withstood the soreness of her arm for holding the camera up for 15 minutes straight), and here's the transcript of the main body of the speech that goes with this video:
//The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, continues to be rampant around the world since early 2020, resulting in more than 55 million cases and 1.3 million deaths worldwide as of today. (So no! It’s not a hoax for those conspiracy theorists out there!) A higher rate of incidence and deaths, as well as worse health-related quality of life have been widely observed in the socially disadvantaged groups, including people of lower socioeconomic position, older persons, migrants, ethnic minority and communities of color, etc. While epidemiologists and scientists around the world are dedicated in gathering scientific evidence on the specific causes and determinants of the health inequalities observed in different countries and regions, we can apply the Social Determinants of Health Conceptual Framework developed by the World Health Organization team led by the eminent Prof Sir Michael Marmot, world’s leading social epidemiologist, to understand and delineate these social determinants of health inequalities related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to this framework, social determinants of health can be largely categorized into two types – 1) the lower stream, intermediary determinants, and 2) the upper stream, structural and macro-environmental determinants. For the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized that the lower stream factors may include material circumstances, such as people’s living and working conditions. For instance, the nature of the occupations of these people of lower socioeconomic position tends to require them to travel outside to work, i.e., they cannot work from home, which is a luxury for people who can afford to do it. This lack of choice in the location of occupation may expose them to greater risk of infection through more transportation and interactions with strangers. We have also seen infection clusters among crowded places like elderly homes, public housing estates, and boarding houses for foreign domestic helpers. Moreover, these socially disadvantaged people tend to have lower financial and social capital – it can be observed that they were more likely to be deprived of personal protective equipment like face masks and hand sanitizers, especially during the earlier days of the pandemic. On the other hand, the upper stream, structural determinants of health may include policies related to public health, education, macroeconomics, social protection and welfare, as well as our governance… and last, but not least, our culture and values. If the socioeconomic and political contexts are not favorable to the socially disadvantaged, their health and well-being will be disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Therefore, if we, as a society, espouse to address and reduce the problem of health inequalities, social determinants of health cannot be overlooked in devising and designing any public health-related strategies, measures and policies.
Although a higher rate of incidence and deaths have been widely observed in the socially disadvantaged groups, especially in countries with severe COVID-19 outbreaks, this phenomenon seems to be less discussed and less covered by media in Hong Kong, where the disease incidence is relatively low when compared with other countries around the world. Before the resurgence of local cases in early July, local spread of COVID-19 was sporadic and most cases were imported. In the earlier days of the pandemic, most cases were primarily imported by travelers and return-students studying overseas, leading to a minor surge between mid-March and mid-April of 874 new cases. Most of these cases during Spring were people who could afford to travel and study abroad, and thus tended to be more well-off. Therefore, some would say the expected social gradient in health impact did not seem to exist in Hong Kong, but may I remind you that, it is only the case when we focus on COVID-19-specific incidence and mortality alone. But can we really deduce from this that COVID-19-related health inequality does not exist in Hong Kong? According to the Social Determinants of Health Framework mentioned earlier, the obvious answer is “No, of course not.” And here’s why…
In addition to the direct disease burden, the COVID-19 outbreak and its associated containment measures (such as economic lockdown, mandatory social distancing, and change of work arrangements) could have unequal wider socioeconomic impacts on the general population, especially in regions with pervasive existing social inequalities. Given the limited resources and capacity of the socioeconomically disadvantaged to respond to emergency and adverse events, their general health and well-being are likely to be unduly and inordinately affected by the abrupt changes in their daily economic and social conditions, like job loss and insecurity, brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak and the corresponding containment and mitigation measures of which the main purpose was supposedly disease prevention and health protection at the first place. As such, focusing only on COVID-19 incidence or mortality as the outcomes of concern to address health inequalities may leave out important aspects of life that contributes significantly to people’s health. Recently, my research team and I collaborated with Sir Michael Marmot in a Hong Kong study, and found that the poor people in Hong Kong fared worse in every aspects of life than their richer counterparts in terms of economic activity, personal protective equipment, personal hygiene practice, as well as well-being and health after the COVID-19 outbreak. We also found that part of the observed health inequality can be attributed to the pandemic and its related containment measures via people’s concerns over their own and their families’ livelihood and economic activity. In other words, health inequalities were contributed by the pandemic even in a city where incidence is relatively low through other social determinants of health that directly concerned the livelihood and economic activity of the people. So in this study, we confirmed that focusing only on the incident and death cases as the outcomes of concern to address health inequalities is like a story half-told, and would severely truncate and distort the reality.
Truth be told, health inequality does not only appear after the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, it is a pre-existing condition in countries and regions around the world, including Hong Kong. My research over the years have consistently shown that people in lower socioeconomic position tend to have worse physical and mental health status. Nevertheless, precisely because health inequality is nothing new, there are always voices in our society trying to dismiss the problem, arguing that it is only natural to have wealth inequality in any capitalistic society. However, in reckoning with health inequalities, we need to go beyond just figuring out the disparities or differences in health status between the poor and the rich, and we need to raise an ethically relevant question: are these inequalities, disparities and differences remediable? Can they be fixed? Can we do something about them? If they are remediable, and we can do something about them but we haven’t, then we’d say these inequalities are ultimately unjust and unfair. In other words, a society that prides itself in pursuing justice must, and I say must, strive to address and reduce these unfair health inequalities. Borrowing the words from famed sociologist Judith Butler, “the virus alone does not discriminate,” but “social and economic inequality will make sure that it does.” With COVID-19, we learn that it is not only the individuals who are sick, but our society. And it’s time we do something about it.
Thank you very much!//
Please join me in congratulating the incoming executive committee of AMSAHK and giving them the best wishes for their future endeavor!
Roger Chung, PhD
Assistant Professor, CUHK JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, @CUHK Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 香港中文大學 - CUHK
Associate Director, CUHK Institute of Health Equity
同時也有1部Youtube影片,追蹤數超過8,320的網紅Campus TV, HKUSU 香港大學學生會校園電視,也在其Youtube影片中提到,[新聞] 政府建人工泳灘惹爭議 三千人集會保龍尾 十一月四日下午,來到香港政府總部草地的人都穿上代表海洋的藍色衣服參與守護龍尾大集會。出席的嘉賓包括港大地理系副教授吳祖南博士(同為前環境諮詢委員會屬下環境影響評估小組委員會主席)、港大生態學及生物多樣性學系助理教授侯志恒博士、立法會議員、學民思潮成...
「environmental protection speech」的推薦目錄:
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#共同努力共同得益 #StriveTogetherThriveTogether
At the Taiwan Circular Economy Summit, AIT Director Christensen highlighted the environmental partnership between the United States and Taiwan. This partnership provides technical assistance and pursues collaborative efforts with regional partners across the Indo-Pacific and around the world. Director Christensen stated that together we are “making a difference in improving environmental protection.” The summit, jointly hosted by the Executive Yuan, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Environmental Protection Administration, and the Council of Agriculture, facilitated discussions on how best to enable Taiwan’s industrial transformation toward green recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Read Director's speech: https://www.ait.org.tw/remarks-by-ait-director-christensen-at-the-circular-economy-summit/
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【循環台灣】亞太循環經濟論壇官網&早鳥票正式開跑!
今年度最能展示台灣循環經濟進展的活動 -
「亞太循環經濟論壇──新契機」,
官網正式上線並啟售限量50張早鳥票!
這場盛會由循環台灣基金會主辦,
經濟部、環保署共同指導,
並由推動台灣循環經濟的重要單位共同策劃。
論壇邀請到聯合國環境署國際資源委員會
(International Resource Panel)
的共同主席Janez Potočnik擔任開幕專題演講講者,
將分享循環經濟如何推動聯合國永續發展目標以及達到減碳的效益;
另一位專題演講講者,
由循環台灣基金會董事長黃育徵擔任,
將探討循環經濟之於台灣及亞太的意義,
望台下產官學界能夠一同成為推動台灣循環經濟發展的催化劑。
早鳥票數量有限,敬請把握!
其他講者資訊將陸續公布,
請持續鎖定亞太循環經濟論壇官網:
https://apceroundtable.com/
【論壇資訊】
時間:2019/10/16-18
地點:高雄展覽館3樓
【Circular Taiwan】Asia-Pacific Circular Economy Roundtable early bird ticket sales officially started!
Hosted by the Taiwan Circular Economy Network and supported by the Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Asia-Pacific Circular Economy Roundtable will introduce circular economy from a systematic perspective.
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【Event Information】
Time: Oct. 16-18, 2019
Venue: 3F, Kaohsiung Exhibition Hall, Kaohsiung
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[新聞] 政府建人工泳灘惹爭議 三千人集會保龍尾
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本片亦簡介龍尾人工沙灘計劃發展,希望同學能對事件有更進一步的認識。
[News] 3000 people participated in the rally against the controversial Lung Mei beach project
In the afternoon of 4th November 2012, 3000 people wearing in blue gathered at the government headquarters to participate in the rally to protect Lung Mei.
Guests are invited from different parties to give a speech on the stage. They include Dr. Ng, the Associate Professor of the Department of Geography of the University of Hong Kong, Dr. Hau, the Assistant Professor of the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity of the University of Hong Kong, councilors, members of Scholarism, residents in Tai Po, and representatives from various environmental protection organizations. Besides, students from the Environmental Life Science Society, SS, HKUSU also participated in this rally.
This video also introduces the Lung Mei beach project. We hope it helps students to know more about this issue.
Department of News, Campus TV, HKUSU, Session 2012
facebook.com/hkucampustv
![post-title](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KlFxYV5YF2o/hqdefault.jpg)