2010-2014 2010-2014 2015-2019 Ageing Change Making Strategic Philanthropy

Cross-sector Task Force on Elderly Services 2014

ZeShan Foundation, Hong Kong

Subsequent to the roundtable discussion convened by ZeShan Foundation in April 2014, a cross-sector working group has been formed with a focus around Hong Kong elderly services. The group was comprised of three task forces to take lead on forum organization, policy and advocacy, and dementia, respectively, which collectively work toward addressing issues raised during said roundtable discussion.

In the face of a rapidly ageing population in Hong Kong, the working group believes that an effective public-private partnership is required to mobilize the community and the government to work in concert towards the needs of this shifting demographic. Only in coupling policy change with innovative solutions can Hong Kong be made an exemplar of quality elderly services for the region.

In line with the group’s goal of encouraging cross-sector collaboration, the twenty members themselves are representatives of different sectors, such as grant-making foundations, academia and service providers, so as to join forces and work in synergy towards the common goal of improving elderly services.

Task Force 1: Conference Organization

The first task force organized a 2-day forum with a focus on building sustainable public-private partnership in elderly services, which was held in Hong Kong in mid-November 2015 just ahead of Hong Kong’s Senior Citizens’ Day. The goal behind this forum was to bring together private foundations, policy-makers, academics and service providers in a platform to develop private-public partnerships, as well as to demonstrate the importance of creating sustainable partnerships detailed through case studies.

Task Force 2: Policy & Advocacy

Convenor: Mr Patrick Cheung, Managing Director, The Jade Club

The second task force reviews elderly-related policies and advocates for greater cross-sector collaboration. In meetings convened with Miss Annie Tam, JP, Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, and Dr. C. K. Law, Principal Investigator of the Consultant Team for the Elderly Commission’s Working Group on Elderly Services Program Plan (ESPP), members of this task force introduced the work and future plans of their respective organizations, discussed policy developments, and expressed views on the role and involvement of private foundations in the development of elderly services in Hong Kong.

Task Force 3: Dementia and Caregiver Support

Convenor: Ms Florence Ho, General Manager of the Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing & Jockey Club CADENZA Hub

The third task force looks specifically at dementia, diving into the policy and institutional support given to caregivers of dementia patients in Hong Kong. There are some 18,000 new cases of dementia every year in Hong Kong, and with the city’s ageing population, this neurological condition is expected to affect some 280,000, or 4% of the local population, by 2036.

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2010-2014 2015-2019 2020-Present Health & Well Being Hepatitis

Combating Hepatitis in Western Pacific Region

World Health Organisation Office for the Western Pacific Region (WPRO), Asia

Since 2013, ZeShan Foundation has been providing support to the World Health Organisation Office for the Western Pacific Region (WPRO). ZeShan’s grants aid WPRO in combating viral hepatitis in the region, and includes the allocation of specific support to the China office.

Viral hepatitis is responsible for 1.4 million deaths globally. There are estimated to be 115 million people with chronic hepatitis B (HBV) infection and 14 million with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection living in the Western Pacific Region, accounting for 40 % of people burdened with chronic hepatitis B and C across the globe.

Chronic HBV and HCV is known to lead to the development of cirrhosis and liver cancer over time. With 60% of the worlds’ affected population, the Western Pacific Region has the highest number of deaths caused by liver cancer globally, which is also the 6th top cause of death in the region. Six of the top ten countries with the highest incidence (new annual cases) of liver cancer in the world include Mongolia (highest incidence globally), Viet Nam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia, China and South Korea. This being said, early testing and treatment can effectively reduce the progression of these diseases and subsequently the risk of development of liver cancer.

Patient Story (Philippines): https://www.who.int/philippines/news/feature-stories/detail/surviving-hepatitis-b-and-liver-cancer-vhal-s-story

News feature: https://www.montsame.mn/en/read/136120 World Hepatitis Day in Mongolia, 2018

The grant support from ZeShan Foundation has vaulted WPRO into leading the action on viral hepatitis in the Region, and has allowed the organization to establish regional responses in the effort to eliminate viral hepatitis as outlined by the Global Health Sector Strategy for Viral Hepatitis 2016-2021 . With the elimination of viral hepatitis being highlighted within the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the Regional Action Plan for Viral Hepatitis in the Western Pacific 2016-2020 has been endorsed by all countries in the Western Pacific Region, which defines specific actions to be taken in order to better understand hepatitis epidemics. The outlined actions include awareness and knowledge building among stakeholders, strengthening public policy, and data generation, which will also be essential factor in the process of enhancing prevention strategies and improving access to affordable screening, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis B and C.

Figure 1 illustrates the current progress in hepatitis response programmes in the Western Pacific Region, which underscores the critical importance of national leadership, development of national response plans and having data to inform policy and decision making.

Source: WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, January 2021.

Supporting countries to scale up interventions towards hepatitis elimination

The Western Pacific Region has led global efforts in working towards hepatitis elimination. Some of the regional successes include the triple elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B, as well as the scaled up hepatitis testing and treatment encompassed in Universal Health Coverage. See more here in country case studies[1] [2] – China, Triple elimination, Mongolia, Malaysia

Links:

Link to overall WPRO hepatitis website: https://www.who.int/westernpacific/health-topics/hepatitis

Building capacity of healthcare providers

It is critical to ensure that healthcare providers are trained to deliver good quality hepatitis care and treatment. WPRO has published Training Modules on Hepatitis B and C Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment[1] in collaboration with the WHO South East Asia Region and other WHO centers.

[1] WPRO-SEARO clinical training modules, published July 28, 2020

https://www.who.int/southeastasia/publications-detail/9789290227472

WPRO-SEARO clinical modules

https://www.who.int/southeastasia/publications-detail/9789290227472

Raising public awareness on viral hepatitis

To improve awareness around viral hepatitis and its impact on health, WHO offices in all countries work closely with the Ministries of Health and their partners to provide information to the public. Every year, awareness is raised globally through World Hepatitis Day on 28th July.

Link to videos: (snapshot)

Link to video on hepatitis (mash-up) https://youtu.be/Xl1hRjm-Uhk

WPRO-SEARO clinical training modules, published July 28, 2020

https://www.who.int/southeastasia/publications-detail/9789290227472

Philippines: scaling up hepatitis B services during the COVID-19 lockdowns (video World Hepatitis Day 2020): https://www.facebook.com/whophilippines/videos/291155845324695

Malaysia – Yap’s Story: Road to Recovery (a story of HIV and HCV for World AIDS Day 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-6T-J0Sd10

Malaysia – Silas’s Story: Road to Recovery (World Hepatitis Day 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aBstAHJ-0M&feature=youtu.be

Viet Nam – Chiến thắng bệnh viêm gan C | Successful fight against hepatitis C (World Hepatitis Day 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjT3r6OCxdY&t=48s

WHO country office China – 面对肝炎，做好检测，及早治疗，活出最好的自己 (World Hepatitis Day 2020): https://v.qq.com/x/page/o0530ahwxel.html

WHO country office China –消除歧视，消除肝炎 (World Hepatitis Day 2020): https://v.qq.com/x/page/d0530xpdu1y.html

WHO country office Mongolia – World Hepatitis Day 2020: https://www.facebook.com/WHO.MGL/videos/981267499003176

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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

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Beijing Normal University: China Social Work Education Demonstration Program

China

To support the fledging development of China’s social work profession, ZeShan Foundation has since 2012 supported the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University (BNU) to establish a national demonstration program for social work education.

The pioneering four-year program aims to build up the school’s social work teaching, research and advocacy capacity, with the ultimate goal of creating a sustained pipeline of local social work educators in China. Key features include setting up a Master of Social Work program, establishing practicum and distance learning sites across the country, training master trainers in Central and Western China, and publishing case books and textbooks. Read more below:

China’s Long Hiatus in Social Work
Although China can trace its social work profession back to the 1920s, the field suffered a hiatus lasting over half a century. It was only in the mid-1980s that social work was resurrected, to a large extent thanks to concerted efforts by Hong Kong social work professionals and mainland academics. But the development of national social work education infrastructure is still in its nascent stages, and the field faces issues such as a lack of high-calibre research centers with the capacity to influence policy; a severe lack of qualified social work instructors; inadequate research capacity; a lack of a practicum site network; and low recognition of social work as a profession. During China’s recent push to rapidly develop the field, the enormous gap in academic and intellectual leadership has made itself especially apparent.

Beijing Normal University: A National Leader in Education Reform
BNU is China’s top university for teacher training and an innovative trailblazer in higher education reform. As such, BNU has the capacity to play a pivotal role in spearheading the country’s social work education development. The demonstration program is sanctioned by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and authorized by the Ministry of Education, and is part of the national strategy to jumpstart China’s social work education development.

Demonstration Program
A core part of the demonstration program is setting up a Master of Social Work (MSW) prorgrame which integrates social work, social development, NGO development, and policy advocacy – a first in mainland China.

To facilitate knowledge transfer, BNU has assembled an international team of academics – including many from Hong Kong – to teach alongside their Chinese counterparts, partnering on a one-to-one basis.

Emphasis is also placed on evidence-based teaching and research, so as to ensure the indigenization of knowledge and integration of theory and practice. To this end, BNU will set up an extensive network of 100 practicum sites across the country, publish textbooks on a range of social work topics and an annual case book, and set up a national recognition program for best practices. The ZeShan Case Centre for Social Development was unveiled in 2013, alongside the launch of a ZeShan Scholarship for MSW students.

To leverage more resources, ZeShan encouraged an agreement between BNU and Capacity Building and Assessment Center (CBAC), China’s leading training and assessment organization, whereby CBAC will provide capacity development training and technical assistance to BNU’s establishment of practicum sites.

Beyond Beijing
The demonstration program is not confined to BNU. It also includes setting up regional distance learning sites in partnership with major regional universities, providing intensive training for 700 master trainers to meet the acute needs in Central and Western China, and setting up a fellowship program that will offer up-and-coming social work educators from regional universities to take up teaching or research residency at BNU.

Another unique feature of the demonstration program is its commitment to policy advocacy, so as to provide evidence-based recommendations to the government on such polices as improving the career development of social workers.

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