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The Advisory Committee on the Centre for Health Protection (ACCHP) today (March 18) was consulted on the strategies and scope of work of the first two functional branches of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP).
Members noted that preparation was in full swing for the two functional branches of the CHP - Surveillance and Epidemiology Branch (SEB) and Infection Control Branch (ICB) - to start operation in June 2004.
The CHP will comprise six functional branches. The functional branches other than the SEB and the ICB are: Emergency Response and Information Branch, Public Health Laboratory Services, Public Health Services and Programme Management and Professional Development Branch. It is planned that these four branches will form part of the CHP no later than September 2004. The functional branches of the CHP are expected to be fully developed in 2005.
The chairperson of the ACCHP, Mrs Carrie Yau, who is also the Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, said: "The CHP's mission is to achieve effective prevention and control of diseases in Hong Kong in collaboration with local and overseas working partners.
"The SEB and the ICB will be part and parcel of the CHP to attain that mission. With the inception of these two branches this June, there will be enrichment and integration of resources to strengthen disease surveillance and standardisation of infection control protocols in various settings," she said.
The SEB is responsible for disease surveillance, epidemiological investigations and outbreak control. It will seek to develop enhanced disease surveillance systems, improve disease intelligence gathering and fortify epidemiological expertise and surge capacity (the ability to expand rapidly beyond normal service) in outbreak investigations and control. The branch will comprise the Communicable Disease Division and the Non-Communicable Disease Division.
As for the ICB, it will develop, promulgate, and evaluate best practices in infection control in healthcare and non-healthcare settings. It will comprise a branch office in the new CHP premises, a functional sub-office in the Infectious Disease Block of Princess Margaret Hospital and Epidemiology and Infection Control Units in the hospital clusters of the Hospital Authority.
Members welcomed the enhanced functions of these two branches and supported their early inception to bridge the gaps identified during the last SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak.
A spokesman for the ACCHP noted that members also commented at today's meeting on the work plan of the CHP on capacity building in the area of training and professional development in public health.
The CHP would review, as a first step, the effectiveness of existing training arrangements and resources within the Department of Health with a view to drawing up fresh programmes that address identified inadequacies and redundancies, the spokesman said.
Priority would be given to training necessary to meet the CHP's mission and operational goals. With experience and strengthened capacity, the CHP would offer secondments, attachments and training courses for other government and non-government agencies that are the CHP's strategic partners in health protection.
The setting up of a CHP was recommended in the SARS Expert Committee report as a means to strengthen Hong Kong's capacity to combat communicable diseases.
The ACCHP comprising healthcare professionals in the public and private sectors and academics from four local universities was formed last November to help shape and form the CHP.
Ends/Thursday, March 18, 2004
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