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29 May 2021 |
The 7th Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macau Conference on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health convenes online for first time
The 7th Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macau Conference on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH 2021), jointly organized by The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong (FPAHK) and the School of Nursing of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, has kicked off today. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-day Conference this year takes place entirely online for the first time. Over 30 speakers from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, hundreds of participants and 11 supporting organizations and groups convene to explore and exchange on the main theme “Care and Connect: The Changing World of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health”, including COVID-19’s impacts.
At the Opening this morning, Professor Alex Molasiotis, Head of School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University said in his address, “In mid-2020, a brief published by the United Nations Population Fund stated that the projections about COVID-19 and the evidence from previous crisis, such as the increasing rate in adolescent pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence during 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, show that this global pandemic will have important repercussions for adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and well-being. Recognizing these possible impacts and challenges, the 7th conference on ASRH decided to go with the theme ‘Care and Connect: The Changing World of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health’.”
Dr. Thomas Chung, Consultant Community Medicine (Family and Student Health), Department of Health, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, honourable guest at the Opening, said, “United Nations of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization advocates quality comprehensive sexuality education for all young people. It is not just about sex. It enables young people to acquire the knowledge, skills and values to make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual and social relationships, as well as being better equipped to protect themselves against coercive or abusive sexual activities, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.”
In his welcoming remarks, Dr. Cheung Kai Bun, FPAHK’s Chairman said, “Adolescents are deprived of most face-to-face social connection from their lives by physical distancing measures mandated to contain the COVID-19 infection, such as school closures and home quarantine. There’s a catalytic effect that they are engaged in increased internet use and social media for their much craved-for peer interaction via digital technologies ever more so than before. Their cyber safety and the far-reaching influences of online social and interpersonal interactions and sexual cultures on their psychological development and overall well-being have become growing social concerns.”
“On the top of our minds as service providers is: how can we prepare for and best cater to the ever-evolving needs of adolescents in this era?” Dr. Cheung said, “In this changing world of adolescent sexual and reproductive health, may we care and connect ever more closely!”
The keynote address was delivered by Professor Michael Kidd, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Principal Medical Advisor, Australian Government Department of Health, on the topic “COVID-19 and the Changing World of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health”. A world-renowned authority on family medicine, Prof. Kidd’s experience and contribution in Australia’s national primary care response to the COVID-19 pandemic are focused on how the health system can evolve to meet the current needs of the Australian community – bringing quality health care into homes.
The two-day Conference also includes five plenaries, two lunchtime symposiums, two workshops, an experience sharing session, and oral and poster presentations, covering six areas: “Puberty: Development and Challenges”, “Sexuality in the Media, Handling and Prevention of Sexual Abuse”, “Dating and Gender Violence”, “Sexuality Education and Counselling”, “Prevention of STIs and HPV Vaccination” and “Public Health Policies, Student Health Systems and Primary Health Care”. For details, please refer to the Programme attached and on the official webpage (www.famplan.org.hk/asrh2021/en).
A short video to be released as a Closing highlight features a dozen-odd youth volunteers representing the voice of youth in proclaiming the entitlement to sexual and reproductive health and rights of all youth: “Everyone is entitled to seek sexual pleasure and freedom of reproductive choice as long as one treats other people with respect. Sexuality education empowers more youth to exercise their sexual rights and to make appropriate choices based on full understanding and recognition of their own responsibilities, and to embrace sexual freedom and equality.”
Short video “青少年 · 一分鐘 · 性字典”
ASRH provides a platform for exchange among policy makers, scholars, educators and healthcare professionals in the fields of adolescent sexual and reproductive health to share fieldwork experience, clinical cases and research studies with the aim to promote the development of adolescent sexual health services. It was launched in 2009 in Ningbo, China. It has since been convened biennially –– in 2011 and 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan, 2013 in Hong Kong, 2015 in Macau and 2017 in Chengdu. The next Conference will be held in Macau in 2023.
From top: Opening guests Dr. Thomas Chung, Dr. Cheung Kai Bun and Prof. Alex Molasiotis; Keynote speaker Prof. Michael Kidd
Attachment: ASRH 2021 Programme ASRHC2021_Program20210523AM.pdf
