************************************************************
The "Let's BEAT the FLU" Campaign launched by Hospital Authority's Health InfoWorld on November 11, 2005 received enormous support from many organisations. Following the positive response, Health InfoWorld now collaborates with a number of pharmacist professional associations and organisations to leverage on their professional knowledge on influenza and related medication, and provide free education on flu prevention to the public. It is hoped that the educational information can equip general public with knowledge on preventing and dealing with possible flu attacks. The Pledging Ceremony on "Let's BEAT the FLU" Campaign was held today (February 12), participated by 150 pharmacists in the Campaign during the peak season of influenza in the following two months. The areas of participation by pharmacists include the followings:
1) Making use of pharmacists' professional knowledge to provide free educational information on flu to the public.
2) Participating pharmacists will wear a "Let's BEAT the FLU" badge during this period, while participating pharmacies and chain stores will also put up campaign stickers for easy identification.
3) By taking part in "Infection Control Training Course", pharmacists will make use of the "Infection Control Training Kits" to train members of the participating corporations and spread the knowledge of flu prevention.
4) Participating pharmacist associations and organisations will also help spread the flu prevention messages through the community network and other publicity channels.
Taking part in today's Pledging Ceremony were 150 community pharmacists from eight pharmacist associations and organisations. Representatives from different associations together with their members pledged to contribute to flu prevention in Hong Kong. Besides, the first batch of participating pharmacists today also took part in the "Infection Control Training Course" in order to pass the knowledge and skills of flu prevention to the community and other organisations. The areas of information provided by the participating pharmacists include:
1) Basic knowledge of Influenza and the handling method,
2) Major and safe usage of flu medicine,
3) How to boost individual immunity,
4) How to enhance personal and household hygiene so as to protect the health of oneself and family members, and
5) Key knowledge on flu vaccination and common myth
Addressing at the Ceremony, Dr Vivian Taam Wong, Chief Executive of the HA, said, "Hong Kong is already at its peak flu season and chance of human avian flu cases cannot be ruled out. In recent months, apart from the confirmed cases from overseas, there were also some confirmed poultry infected cases in Hong Kong, which increased the risk of possible local outbreak. It is therefore of utmost importance that proper flu prevention messages and information should be spread to the general public and to enhance public awareness on this matter."
HA is now gearing up to beat the possible outbreak of avian flu. Both the management and frontline medical staff are enhancing their preparedness with a contingency plan in place to handle the possible outbreaks. Measures include the arrangement of hospital manpower and patients admission; the setting up of 18 designated clinics to handle and triage fever patients when the Red Alert is activated; carrying out various drills to enhance contingency response. On top of all these medical system preparedness, it is even more important for the general public to raise their awareness on flu prevention. Dr Wong said, ˇ§HA therefore collaborates with the community pharmacists to provide flu prevention knowledge to the community making use of their professional knowledge and massive community network. It is important for the public to have a much better understanding of flu prevention.ˇ¨
The "Let's BEAT the FLU" Campaign was launched by Health InfoWorld of the Hospital Authority on 11 November 2005 with the aim to mobilise employers to get well-prepared for preventing influenza. The Campaign received overwhelming response from the community, with almost 200 organisations and corporations taking part and over 2,300 employees becoming ˇ§Health Ambassadorsˇ¨ by completing the "Infection Control Training Course". The Health Ambassadors helped pass the flu prevention information to other staff members within the organisation. It is estimated that more than 500,000 employees and their family members were benefited. The efforts made by community pharmacists would no doubt further enhance the communication of health messages for the betterment of the general public at large.
Ends/Sunday, February 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:06
NNNN
