KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

Communicating serious health hazards of Hong Kong air: A new version of the Hedley Environmental Index

Hong Kong's air quality has been deteriorating over 20 years and today presents a serious daily threat to the health of the public and for future generations. The Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government relies on the Air Pollution Index (HKAPI) to communicate the health hazards of pollution to the public. However, the standards used by HKAPI are 25 years out of date, primitive and seriously misleading. The risk categories in the HKAPI bear no relationship to the currently measured bad health outcomes in the population. In order to create a new approach to health risk communication and to inform and assist the public in the interpretation of pollution levels, a group of researchers at The University of Hong Kong School of Public Health developed the Hedley Environmental Index (HEI) in 2008 and launched an updated version on January 17, 2012 to improve the hourly estimation of air pollution impacts on bad health outcomes and economic costs. The new HEI is based on the latest scientific evidence for health risks and referenced to the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines (AQG).

Faculty Knowledge Exchange Awards 2011

Most faculties have introduced Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Award this year in order to recognize the faculty's outstanding KE accomplishment that has made demonstrable economic, social or cultural impacts to benefit the community, business/industry, or partner organizations.

Convalescent Plasma Treatment Reduced Mortality by 50% in Patients with Severe Swine Flu

Treatment using the convalescent plasma from donors who recovered from the swine flu can reduce the mortality rate from severe cases, our researchers from the Department of Microbiology and the Department of Medicine have found.

HKU and the Servier Research Group Join Hands to Develop a New Line of Pharmaceutical Products in the field of Osteogenesis

The University of Hong Kong has collaborated with the Servier Research Group, the second largest French pharmaceutical company, on the research and development of drugs for osteogenesis.

Learn about Childhood Rheumatic Diseases

Many people think rheumatism will only attack the elderly, while in fact it is a common illness found in children. Our Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine has launched a new book of the series entitled ‘Childhood Rheumatic Diseases 3 - The Paediatric Diseases You Must Learn', which explores the very common chronic childhood rheumatic diseases through the experience of three patients and their parents.

HKU Successfully Developed Oral Arsenic Trioxide as the First Ever Patented Prescription Drug in Hong Kong: A Success Story of Hong Kong Innovation

A research team at our Department of Medicine and the Queen Marry Hospital has spent a decade developing oral arsenic trioxide from a research project to a prescription medication that has secured a US patent. For the first time, a drug developed entirely in Hong Kong is poised to attain global status as a prescription medication.

Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

In leading the HKU response to SARS, the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine turned a serious threat to the community into a research and knowledge exchange opportunity that extended far beyond the visible medical and biological research to include multidisciplinary research and knowledge exchange with the society in areas ranging from engineering and architecture, to epidemiology and psychological counseling.