SDG3 Good Health and Well-being
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Photo Credit: Project Ha Giang 2019
Research
HKU has been at the forefront of combating COVID-19 by leveraging our expertise from all disciplines. Since the virus outbreak, our researchers and scientists from the HKUMed have been working to increase the scientific understanding of COVID-19, including research into clinical care, diagnostics and testing, outbreak modelling and prediction, vaccine development. Their major COVID-19 research can be found here.
Our scholars from other disciplines also applied their expertise on studying the pandemic spreading mechanism using statistics or engineering knowledge:
Poor ventilation helps COVID-19 virus spread
Our Department of Mechanical Engineering collaborated with Mainland China officials and institutions in conducting a series of epidemiological and environmental studies on three important COVID-19 outbreak cases in Mainland China and Tokyo to study the role of ventilation in the pandemic. The team suggests that airborne transmission of COVID-19 outbreak in the indoor environment is likely when the ventilation rate is less than 3 L/s per person, with a sufficient exposure period. Hence, public places should enhance indoor air ventilation and social gatherings indoors should be avoided if there is not enough ventilation.
Key Data
Click on the icons to see the full list of courses/research.
2019-20
166
Courses
7,227
ResearchPapers
488
Students
enrolled
Predicting COVID-19 spread using big data
Our Faculty of Business and Economics led an international research team to develop a model for tracking the spread of COVID-19 by studying aggregate population flow data and the location of COVID-19 confirmed cases. The model was able to explain 96% of the distribution and intensity of the spread of COVID-19 across China statistically.
The research team then built a new risk detection toolkit by creating an “expected growth pattern” based on the number of people arriving from the risk source and identified the “community transmission risk” by contrasting expected growth of cases against the actual number of confirmed cases for each city in China. The toolkit can be used by policymakers in other countries with available data to make rapid and accurate risk assessments and allocate their resources to handle the outbreaks.
Engagement and Outreach
Sharing COVID-19 information to the community
HKU has set up the StandByU platform to connect with the community regarding COVID-19 pandemic. The platform aims to equip society with reliable and accurate information on virus prevention along with the latest research findings of HKU experts focusing on virus awareness, infection prevention, vaccine information, doctor talks and forecast on pandemic development.
Improved dental health of the public
Our Faculty of Dentistry collaborates with different organisations to provide dental services to society regularly. The faculty has collaborated with several NGOs to offer free dental services to the children. Our students provided free dental check-ups and applied silver diamine fluoride treatment to children in ten kindergartens. Apart from children, the faculty also provided free dental check-up, simple treatment, and individual counselling and education to residents living in Sham Shui Po and Kwun Tong during the Smiley Action Day 2019-2020.
Promote socio-emotional health by animal-assisted projects
Our Department of Social Work and Social Administration worked with local schools on the application of animal-assisted therapy. The department brought training dogs to primary schools into 11 schools to promote empathy and social and emotional health of the students with the aim of youth suicide prevention. During the programme period, students were able to learn about animal behaviours and interact with the dogs.
Teaching, Learning and Students Activities
Courses and programmes
Ranked 4th globally in the QS ranking, our Faculty of Dentistry is a global leader in oral health sciences, education, and professional care. The faculty established the Multi-Specialty Clinic (“IAD-MSC”) under the Institute for Advanced Dentistry, allowing our postgraduate students and faculty staff to provide advanced dental care services to patients of the Hong Kong community with complex or severe oral conditions.
Operations
Information platform to combat COVID-19
COVID-19 has drastically changed the way that the university operates, we have set up the HKU COVID-19 Info Hub to better disseminate information about the coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong to the HKU community. Students, staff and other users can utilize the platform to keep track of the HKU’s updates, information, and advice related to the University’s activities, such as work, teaching, and quarantine arrangements. All campus users are advised to regularly visit the hub for the latest information.
Exercise during COVID-19
The HKU Exercise is Medicine on Campus (EIM@HKU) project continues to fitness and health to staff and students through a series of events and initiatives. The EIM team has transformed the exercise program by transitioning into a virtual format, developed COVID-19 exercise toolkits were developed for users to enhance their immune system and to remain healthy while staying at home.
University Health Service
Our University Health Service serves students, staff, dependents and retired staff to promote and maintain their physical and psychological well being through the provision of cost-effective and accessible health care and education services. The scope of services includes medical and dental consultations, vaccination, physiotherapy and health education.