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10 Dec 2015 |
FPAHK 60th Annual General Meeting
The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong (FPAHK) held its 60th Annual General Meeting yesterday. The new Council Members were elected. Prof. Gabriel Leung, Dean, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, was present as the Guest of Honour.
Addressing the meeting, FPAHK’s Chairperson Ms Lina Yan, JP, said the new United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted in September this year recognizing sexual and reproductive health and rights as one of the priorities over the next 15 years signified a huge progress in this global movement. She pointed out that despite having health indices among the world’s best, Hong Kong should not ignore existing threats to sexual and reproductive health and rights, including ageing population, cancers, HIV/AIDS infections, unwanted pregnancy, infertility, gender-based violence and related mental problems, etc., which were oftentimes aggravated by poor marital relationship and work-family balance, social isolation and low self-esteem. She appealed for further investing in sexual and reproductive health and rights in Hong Kong with a comprehensive strategy to ensure universal access for all individuals and couples throughout the life cycle to a full range of high quality and affordable services to address these many unmet health needs.
Referring to the low fertility rate over the past two decades, Ms Yan expressed her concern that Hong Kong people were deterred by socio-economic pressures from exercising their reproductive rights to ideal parenthood. She called for consensus and momentum from every sector to create a parenthood-friendly and childhood-friendly environment.
Dr. Susan Fan, FPAHK’s Executive Director, JP, reported on major accomplishments in the past year under various strategies set out in the 2014-16 Strategic Plan.
As regards counselling and medical services, the previous Youth Health Care Service in FPAHK’s Tsuen Wan Centre was relocated to the Metroplaza in Kwai Fong in March. The new Kwai Fong Youth Health Care Centre now offered an easily accessible and cozy place with extended service hours to serve youth in Kwai Tsing and the neighbouring districts. The move allowed the Tsuen Wan Clinic to expand its other clinic services. Catching up on the mobile technology trend, FPAHK launched a WeChat official account in October for enquiry and booking for services under the Youth Health Care Service. Youths were also invited to participate in the weekly WeChatting discussion and voting on a selected hot topic. Following the successful launch of the Artificial Insemination by Husband service, an Andrology Laboratory collaborated with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Hong Kong was set up to provide a one-stop quality semen analysis service for subfertile clients. In October, FPAHK published the results of Hong Kong’s first study on the “Bone Health Status of Postmenopausal Chinese Women” in the Hong Kong Medical Journal. To support the World Osteoporosis Day on 20 October, a campaign entitled “Every Bone Counts – Osteoporosis Awareness 2015” was launched to offer free DXA bone densitometry tests sponsored by the Community Chest of Hong Kong to 100 eligible postmenopausal women.
Concerning family life and sexuality education, new TV and radio Announcements in the Public Interests to promote the importance of early planning for parenthood were released in July and a public talk on pregnancy preparation was held for couples planning for childbearing in August. This year, FPAHK was commissioned by the Curriculum Development Institute of the Education Bureau and the Centre of Moral Education of Macau Education & Youth Affairs Bureau to conduct training workshops on school sexuality education respectively. FPAHK was also invited by the Department of Health and Physical Education of the Hong Kong Education Institute to collaborate in delivering a new course on “Sexual Health and Human Sexuality”. In a seminar jointly organized with the Hong Kong Association of Sex Educators, Researchers & Therapists, an accomplished American sexuality educator was invited to share on the life skills-based approach with teaching professionals. New sexuality education resources “The Children’s Book of Growing Up: Is this love?” and the new edition of “All about Sexuality - 131 Facts for Teens” were released during the Hong Kong Book Fair. On the FPAHK Website, short videos to clarify myths on sexual and reproductive health were uploaded and updated regularly while a mobile version of the Website was launched in February. Youth volunteer team “Famplus2” would organize a sexuality education activity to encourage young dating couples to create meaningful budget dates this Sunday.
As to community collaboration, the 7th Hong Kong Sex Cultural Festival 2015 on the theme “Sex and Fashion” was jointly organized with the Hong Kong Sex Education Association in March. Women’s Clubs participated in the Globe-athon 2015 on 20 September to promote the message: “Give Me A Chance Say No To Women's Cancer!” Funded by the Radio Television Hong Kong’s Community Involvement Broadcasting Fund, FPAHK produced its first radio program series in which 12 women volunteers shared their personal stories of growth and transformation. Collaboration with partner organizations continued to provide sexual and reproductive health education to marginalized women groups, covering women with intellectual disabilities, ethnic minorities, foreign domestic workers, sex workers and drug abusers, etc. FPAHK actively participated in overseas exchanges, including the Cross-strait Conference on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in Macau in June and the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s regional meetings in Jakarta, Indonesia in August. Furthermore, the Youth Sexuality Study 2016 Working Group had been formed in preparation for this 5-yearly territory-wide survey to commence next year.
In his vote of thanks, Prof. Ho Pak-chung, FPAHK’s President, expressed gratitude to the Government, FPAHK’s volunteers, donors and service users for their generous support and contributions.
The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong Annual Report 2014-2015 and the list of new Council Members are available on the FPAHK Website (www.famplan.org.hk/fpahk/en).
