<div id="readability-page-1">Hong Kong has launched its first action plan on weight management, aiming to reduce the proportion of people who are overweight or obese to less than half the population in three years from the current 51.3 per cent of adults. On Wednesday, World Obesity Day, the Department of Health announced more than 40 measures, ranging from installing more weighing scales in government venues to exploring the inclusion of novel weight-loss injections in the drug formulary, in a bid to reverse the rising trend of obesity in the city. The proportion of people who are obese or overweight has been rising over the past decades, from 37.2 per cent in 2004, to 47 per cent in 2014 and 51.3 per cent in 2022. A study in 2022 found that more than two-thirds of people who were overweight did not know they were, with 40 per cent having taken no action to manage their weight in the previous 12 months. Edwin Tsui Lok-kin, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said the focus of the first year was raising awareness about obesity, a major risk factor for chronic illnesses and 13 types of cancer. Awareness was the starting point of intervention, he said. “We hope to truly change the public’s perception of weight management, and provide support accordingly through different stakeholders in the community and different government departments,” Tsui said. “Weight management is not blindly losing weight, but finding a balance in diet and exercise. Walking a few more steps or running to catch the bus are also forms of exercise.”  The focus for the second and third years will be on pushing for positive changes in lifestyle and social environment, and turning weight management into a part of people’s lives. Tsui stressed that the fight against obesity was not a personal choice or discipline but a multidimensional public health challenge that involved environmental, social and economic factors, warranting cross-departmental collective efforts. The action plan not only involved health authorities, but also the Education Bureau, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Environment and Ecology Bureau, and Planning Department, among others, he added. Dr Anne Chee, head of the centre’s non-communicable disease branch, said the authorities hoped the action plan would help to bring down the 51.3 per cent prevalence of overweight and obesity to below 50 per cent. “If using the same scale [as the World Health Organization], the Hong Kong rate is 40 per cent, which is slightly better than the 43 per cent average of WHO member states,” she said. A highlight of the action plan is to foster a social environment that supports weight management by providing more scales and measuring tapes in sports centres and schools. Companies that sign a charter to promote a healthy workplace will receive a free weighing scale. The Planning Department and Housing Department would also adopt more “active design”, such as installing more fitness equipment in public housing estates and building more cycling tracks and jogging trails, Tsui said. To promote a healthy diet, the Environment and Ecology Bureau and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will strengthen public education on understanding food labels, and encourage the food trade to reduce the sodium and sugar content in products.   The government will also strengthen health service delivery, enhancing the role of district health centres as the “gatekeeper” of weight management. That means the centres will conduct health assessments and their cross-disciplinary teams of nurses, dietitians and therapists will provide support. People who have developed chronic conditions will be referred to family doctors in their network or Hospital Authority specialists. The government will also explore including novel weight-loss drugs, such as injectable GLP-1, in the drug formulary with reference to WHO guidelines. To better monitor residents’ weight, the government will, with consent from account holders, collect and analyse big data from eHealth, the electronic health record platform. Asian adults with a body mass index (BMI) between 23 and less than 25 are considered overweight, according to the WHO’s Western Pacific region. Those with a BMI of 25 or above are considered obese.</div>

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<p>Hong Kong has launched a three-year action plan to combat obesity, aiming to reduce the overweight and obesity rate from 51.3% to below 50%. The plan includes over 40 measures such as increasing access to weighing scales, promoting healthy diets, and enhancing health services. The first year focuses on raising awareness about obesity, while subsequent years will emphasize lifestyle changes and community support. The initiative involves multiple government departments and aims to address obesity as a public health challenge, not just an individual issue.</p>

Hong Kong launches 3-year action plan to help residents fight the flab