From a Paediatrician's Perspective

Dr. Joanna Yuet Ling TUNG - Council Member, HKOS

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges in this century and its prevalence is increasing worldwide. According to the data from the Department of Health, around one in five children and adolescents are overweight or obese in Hong Kong. It is associated with a wide range of serious physical and psychological health consequences including type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia and premature cardiovascular events.

Managing childhood obesity is challenging and it involves multidisciplinary interventions including nutrition, physical activity, behavioral therapy as well as screening of complications. In the past few years, our paediatric endocrine team had organised various obesity programs in collaboration with our physiotherapists, dietitian, clinical psychologist and the Institute of Human Performance. We have also set up the first paediatric joint obesity clinic in Hong Kong, providing multidisciplinary assessment and counseling for potential bariatric surgery candidates. Recently, we have also started the Hong Kong Childhood Diabetes Registry. With that, we hope we can better understand the local scenarios and provide better care to our children.