Tripartite meeting strengthens co-operation against communicable diseases (with photos)
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The tripartite meeting was chaired by the heads of the health authorities of the three places, namely the Director of the Health Bureau of Macao, Dr Lo Iek-long; Deputy Director General of the Health Commission of Guangdong Province Mr Huang Fei; and the Director of Health of Hong Kong, Dr Ronald Lam. Around 60 representatives from the three places attended the meeting, including those from the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong (HA).
Addressing the meeting, Dr Lam said that co-operation in the prevention and control of communicable diseases and handling of public health emergencies among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in the past two decades have been continuously improved and reinforced. Fruitful results have also been achieved in different aspects such as information exchanges, disease notification, and staff training. The co-operation mechanism of the three places in communicable diseases has become a successful model in regional co-operation. With the further development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the tripartite co-operation will become even closer.
He pointed out that in the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic had also affected the three places, during which the tripartite meeting had to be suspended to fight against the epidemic at full strength. He expressed heartfelt gratitude to the tremendous support of the Central Government and the Guangdong Province to enhance Hong Kong's anti-epidemic work, including the provision of large quantities of medical supplies and assistance in the swift construction of isolation facilities. In addition, the medical expert teams sent to Hong Kong also offered guidance and valuable suggestions. He also thanked the close co-operation from the Macao Special Administrative Region for their real-time sharing of information and experience.
The meeting provided a platform for health authorities of the three places to review and conclude co-operation in surveillance, prevention and notification mechanisms of communicable diseases, as well as to conduct thorough exchanges and discussions in multiple areas. In the meeting, representatives of the three places summarised the experiences in the prevention and control work on COVID-19 in the past three years, and exchanged views on clinical treatment after infection and the future prevention and control plan. They also discussed the handling of post COVID-19 conditions from public health and clinical perspectives.
Moreover, the Hong Kong representatives briefed participants on other communicable diseases causing concern in Hong Kong in the past year (including melioidosis and mpox), and gave detailed analyses on the relevant epidemiological investigation, risk assessment and preventive measures. Apart from that, in-depth exchanges have been conducted to combat public health issues faced by the three places, e.g. seasonal influenza, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and viral hepatitis.
Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao reached consensus at the 20th tripartite meeting in the following areas:
1. Enhance tripartite co-operation in disease prevention and control as well as handling public health emergencies; organise regular tripartite meetings on prevention and control of communicable diseases and regularly promote exchanges of information and experiences on disease prevention and control in the three places; and enhance the standards of disease prevention and control, and emergency preparedness.
2. Implement the co-operation agreement on public health emergencies in the three places to optimise the system for handling public health emergencies and major communicable diseases to further improve health levels in the Bay Area.
3. Hold ongoing exchanges of experiences in public health prevention and control as well as clinical treatment of COVID-19, and continue to optimise the co-operation mechanism as well as prevention and control work.
4. Strengthen co-operation and exchanges on different areas in relation to communicable diseases, including AMR, immunisation, viral hepatitis, major bacterial infections and prevention and control of emerging diseases etc.
5. Further enhance the notification mechanism of communicable diseases to make greater contributions.
6. Taking into consideration the practical needs of the three places in disease prevention and control, continue to foster exchanges and capacity building among communicable disease experts
Next year's tripartite meeting will be hosted by the Health Commission of Guangdong Province.
Ends/Friday, April 21, 2023
Issued at HKT 16:00
Issued at HKT 16:00
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