Inaugural individualised school health reports to be released under extended Whole School Health Programme
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"The Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address" announced that the WSHP would be strengthened and extended to cover all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. Based on the overall health status of students in each school, health reports will also be compiled for each participating school to recommend targeted school-based health promotion measures for physical activities, meals and other matters, to improve students' physical and psychological well-being.
During the 2024/25 school year, 808 schools participated in the WSHP, specifically 356 primary schools, 404 secondary schools, and 48 special schools. Of these, 339 were classified as "Pledged Schools", 458 as "Action Schools", and 11 as "Advanced Schools", covering nearly 70 per cent of schools in Hong Kong. The response was enthusiastic.
The Consultant Community Medicine (Family and Student Health) of the DH, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, expressed gratitude to schools and parents for their support.
"The participating schools have strengthened the implementation of various measures under the Health Promoting School (HPS) framework, which include integrating four major health themes, namely physical activity, healthy eating, mental health and social well-being, into the school curriculum; providing facilities and venues to encourage students to engage in physical activities; providing high-quality physical education lessons; providing a healthy eating environment; setting up a task group to support students and staff members with emotional issues; recording and analysing students' health conditions; establishing a mechanism to assist students at risk of self-harm or suicide; and addressing bullying issues. The results are satisfactory," Dr Chuang said.
"The DH would like to take this opportunity to commend all the schools that have actively participated in and supported the WSHP, especially the 11 outstanding schools that have been upgraded from 'Pledged Schools' to 'Action Schools' and ultimately to 'Advanced Schools' (see Annex). These Advanced Schools have consistently implemented the HPS framework in a comprehensive manner, and have proactively implemented additional measures, such as setting up dedicated task forces to formulate and review healthy school policies, providing staff with training opportunities related to health, and inviting parents and community partners to provide suggestions on the development of a healthy school. They have also shared their experience and strategies for implementing the HPS with other schools through various channels," she added.
The WSHP is divided into three phases. First, the DH provides participating schools with guidelines and a checklist, referencing the Health Promoting School framework advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO), to help them systematically review and formulate health promotion measures. Next, the DH will conduct an in-depth analysis of the annual health assessment data of students attending Student Health Service Centres in the 2023/24 school year and the checklists submitted by the schools. Finally, based on these assessments, the DH will compile a health report and provide targeted health promotion recommendations tailored to each school's specific circumstances to assist schools in establishing priorities and strategies for their school-based health promotion work.
The health reports cover the above-mentioned four major health themes and six key factors of HPS, namely healthy school policies, schools' physical environment, schools' social environment, community links, action competencies for healthy living, and school health care and promotion services.
The DH will distribute the health reports to all participating schools tomorrow. Between mid-August and late September, the DH's professional healthcare teams will visit each participating school to provide in-depth explanations of the health reports, enabling the schools to implement relevant health promotion work in the new school year.
The DH will continue to actively promote the WSHP to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, and will collaborate with stakeholders to support schools to gradually upgrade from "Pledged Schools" to "Action Schools", and ultimately to "Advanced Schools" which have fully implemented the HPS framework. This will help realise the WHO's vision of "making every school a health-promoting school".
"Evidence from international research shows that the implementation of the HPS framework can bring about a positive impact on the health of students, such as effectively reducing the risk of smoking among students, reducing bullying cases, helping to improve the body mass index of students, as well as increasing their physical activity and intake of fruits and vegetables. I would like to appeal to schools which have not yet joined the WSHP to visit the DH's designated webpage and sign the "Whole School Health Charter", or call 3163 4574 to contact the DH's Health Promoting School Division to register for the WSHP," Dr Chuang added.
Furthermore, the Student Health Service Centres of the DH provide annual health assessment services to all primary and secondary students in Hong Kong to identify students with health or behavioral problems at an early stage for timely advice and intervention. In addition to letting individual student know their own health condition, the DH will regularly analyse the data obtained to monitor the overall health condition and relevant trends of local students, and announce relevant findings to the public to raise their awareness on student health.
For more information on the list of participating schools and the WSHP, members of the public may visit the DH's designated webpage.
Ends/Monday, August 18, 2025
Issued at HKT 17:45
Issued at HKT 17:45
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