The increasing occurrence of chronic and complex diseases is placing increasing demands on hospitals, and causing healthcare costs to escalate. To address this problem, most Western countries have adopted primary healthcare systems. Based on their experience, primary healthcare decreases the overall healthcare cost to society by building a healthier population, decentralizing healthcare resources and empowering individuals to manage and improve their own health.
A primary healthcare system is the most economically feasible and efficient approach to providing healthcare to a population with increasingly complex and chronic diseases. The keystone to such a system is education, both to individuals and to the community. Those professionals in our community poised to deliver this education precisely where it is needed are school teachers, social workers and nurses. Thus, training teachers, school social workers, nurses and promising health educators to provide health education is critical to establishing and developing an effective health care system in Hong Kong.
