Health online: Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Carrie Yau and Director of Health Dr Lam Ping-yan (right) browse the HeathyHK website at its launch ceremony.

The Department of Health has launched website HealthyHK to promote public health.

Through its various functions, including an interactive enquiry application, HealthyHK will serve as a platform allowing information sharing to suit the different needs of people from all walks of life.

The website is supported by the department's Public Health Information System which collects, collates and analyses health-related data from various sources including the Hospital Authority and Government departments.

Website contents will be updated and enriched. A series of roving exhibitions in shopping arcades, including New Town Plaza, Lok Fu Shopping Centre, Queensway Plaza and Kornhill Plaza, will be held between March and May to arouse public awareness of the site.

Useful tool

Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Carrie Yau said HealthyHK will be useful for policymakers, healthcare professionals, researchers and business people to make evidence-based decisions on health policies, resource allocation, and the planning, implementation and evaluation of health services and programmes.

Students can also use the statistical information on the site to conduct health-related projects, she said, adding the public can have a better understanding of Hong Kong's health status.

Director of Health Dr Lam Ping-yan said the information system aims to record people's health conditions and the community's disease pattern. It will also help in formulating effective strategies in the prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The Public Health Information System is being implemented in three phases:

Phase I - implemented last April, covering information on communicable diseases, vital statistics and population estimates and demographics;

Phase II - covering information on non-communicable diseases, health of children, students, women and the elderly as well as the set up of HealthyHK; and,

Phase III - to be implemented later this year, covering immunisation and immunity, environmental health, cervical cancer screening, occupational health, oral health and healthcare utilisation.