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KE Spotlight

  • HKU partners with Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) to launch handbook and mobile phone app for blood patients

    HKU partners with Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) to launch handbook and mobile phone app for blood patients

    HKU and Queen Mary Hospital have launched a handbook, website and smartphone app that will provide medical professionals and patients with information on the latest treatments available for blood cancers and diseases. The project was funded by HKU and the Queen Mary Hospital. The protocol marks a new model of medical practice in Hong Kong, which allows quick exchange of new knowledge and experience. It is the first time that online technology is harnessed in the dissemination of medical management and treatment standards in Hong Kong.

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  • Communicating serious health hazards of Hong Kong air: A new version of the Hedley Environmental Index

    Communicating serious health hazards of Hong Kong air: A new version of the Hedley Environmental Index

    Hong Kong's air quality has been deteriorating over 20 years and today presents a serious daily threat to the health of the public and for future generations. The Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government relies on the Air Pollution Index (HKAPI) to communicate the health hazards of pollution to the public. However, the standards used by HKAPI are 25 years out of date, primitive and seriously misleading. The risk categories in the HKAPI bear no relationship to the currently measured bad health outcomes in the population. In order to create a new approach to health risk communication and to inform and assist the public in the interpretation of pollution levels, a group of researchers at The University of Hong Kong School of Public Health developed the Hedley Environmental Index (HEI) in 2008 and launched an updated version on January 17, 2012 to improve the hourly estimation of air pollution impacts on bad health outcomes and economic costs. The new HEI is based on the latest scientific evidence for health risks and referenced to the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines (AQG).

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