Plague Sars And The Story Of Medicine In Hong Kong

"The volume covers Hong Kong's medical development in the period from 1841 to early 2005, including the history of hospitals and medical education, and the role of the Bacteriological Institute. It is a record of how the health care system has evolved and how the territory has been able to cope with the massive increase in population."--BOOK JACKET.

In the autumn of 2002 in southern China, a previously unknown virus jumped the species barrier from animal to man, and sparked the first global epidemic of the new century. the disease sped along the air routes of a globalized world, spreading within mont

What was really happening as Hong Kong struggled with SARS? In At the Epicentre, the story of those extraordinary weeks unfolds with all its drama - personal, national and international, political, medical and scientific.The authors give us the whole picture: from a day-by-day calendar of events to the experiences of a SARS-sufferer; from the heroic efforts of the medical staff in the hospitals to the work of the pioneering global network of laboratories that the World Health Organisation (WHO) created; from the amazing shift to openness of the Chinese authorities to a detailed study of how the global media covered the story.It is a story of individuals, of Dr Gregory Cheng recounting how it felt to have SARS, of the concentrated and intense work of Professor Malik Peiris as he struggled to identify the virus, of Dr David Heyman of the WHO as he dealt with intense political pressures yet moved the international effort along at high speed.The impact of SARS on Hong Kong was enormous and far-reaching. At the Epicentre explores the economic consequences, the way the community responded, and what might be the long-term political implications for Hong Kong, for China and for the international community. The authors are rigorous but fair in their criticisms, recognizing that what seems clear now was not always so in the heat of the battle. But most important are the lessons they draw from the events and experiences for the next time, for the authors all recognize that SARS is just the first global epidemic of the new century.

This book tells the fascinating story of the development of medical and sanitation services in Hong Kong during the first century of British rule and how changing political values and directions of the colonial administration and the socio-economic status of the Hong Kong affected the policies of development in these areas. It also recounts how the bubonic plague of 1894 changed the government's laissez-faire attitude towards sanitation and public health and began sanitary reforms and developed public health infrastructure.

This book gives an account of Hong Kong's medical and health development from the Second World War to the present day, investigates how medical and health services grew and adapted as Hong Kong's political and the socio-economic landscape—and the world beyond it—changed, and continued changing. The author is a clinician-scientist rather than a social scientist, her writing is therefore based on her first-hand knowledge of the changes in the Hong Kong medical and healthcare scene during the period 1942–2015, and the book has also been enriched by her meticulous research via the archives of available government publications, other literature, and media reports. This book is a sequel to A Medical History of Hong Kong: 1842–1941. "k presents an unbiased and scientific analysis of events which prompted the authorities and the public to consider, evaluate, and ultimately implement policies that resulted in the gradual improvement of the healthcare system in Hong Kong."–Rosie T. T. Young, The University of Hong Kong.

Besides looking at major outbreaks of diseases and how they were coped with, diseases such as malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, plague, venereal disease, avian flu and SARS, this book also examines how the successive government regimes in Hong Kong took action to prevent diseases and control potential threats to health. It shows how policies impacted the various Chinese and non-Chinese groups, and how policies were often formulated as a result of negotiations between these different groups. By considering developments over a long historical period, the book contrasts the different approaches in the periods of colonial rule, Japanese occupation, post-war reconstruction, transition to decolonization, and Hong Kong as Special Administrative Region within the People’s Republic of China.

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in late 2002 and 2003 challenged the global public health community to confront a novel epidemic that spread rapidly from its origins in southern China until it had reached more than 25 other countries within a matter of months. In addition to the number of patients infected with the SARS virus, the disease had profound economic and political repercussions in many of the affected regions. Recent reports of isolated new SARS cases and a fear that the disease could reemerge and spread have put public health officials on high alert for any indications of possible new outbreaks. This report examines the response to SARS by public health systems in individual countries, the biology of the SARS coronavirus and related coronaviruses in animals, the economic and political fallout of the SARS epidemic, quarantine law and other public health measures that apply to combating infectious diseases, and the role of international organizations and scientific cooperation in halting the spread of SARS. The report provides an illuminating survey of findings from the epidemic, along with an assessment of what might be needed in order to contain any future outbreaks of SARS or other emerging infections.

This book reviews the medical history of Hong Kong, beginning with its birth as a British colony. It introduces the origins of Hong Kong’s medical education, which began in 1887 when the London Missionary Society set up the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. When the University of Hong Kong was established in 1911, the College became its medical faculty. The faculty has gained distinction over the years for innovative surgical techniques, for discovering the SARS virus and for its contribution to advances in medical and health sciences. This book is meant for general readers as well as medical practitioners. It is a work for anyone interested in Hong Kong or in medical education.