2020-present 2020-Present 2020-present Ageing Change Making Health & Well Being Other Change Making Other Health Projects

Overcoming Loneliness

Make A Difference Institute, Hong Kong

The World Health Organization has declared loneliness to be a “pressing health threat” worldwide, with health risks comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Many studies have confirmed that loneliness not only increases mortality risks, but also worsens health problems such as hypertension, depression, and anxiety. According to the “Elderly Mental Wellness Telescreening Survey in Hong Kong 2022” conducted by the University of Hong Kong, a third of older adults in Hong Kong suffered from depression, anxiety, or loneliness. Loneliness is clearly spreading in our community and is a cause of mental health issues.

Yet, little is known about the practice of Social Prescribing in Hong Kong. Since early 2024, MaD has been receiving funding from ZeShan Foundation and the Phillip K. H. Wong Foundation to launch the Social Prescribing Lab. This program tests how to alleviate loneliness in older adults through exploring community resources and linking them to individuals, going beyond conventional medically-driven frameworks. The program piloted in Tai Kok Tsui and Sai Ying Pun, where Link Workers of different backgrounds and professions were recruited and trained. They were paired with older adults to establish relationships of trust and to co-create Social Prescribing solutions that were individualized and user-centric. The Link Workers then accompanied the older adults to take part in the prescribed activities.

MaD’s localized model aims to go deep into communities and explore untapped resources for primary healthcare, as well as mobilizing manpower reserves (such as ‘mid-old’ retirees and university students) to relieve pressures on health and social care. Through the process of co-creation and experimentation with older adults, it also aims to build ‘meaningful connections’ that foster social capital, so as to support older adults in overcoming social isolation and improving their quality of life. Ultimately, we hope that this exploration of non-medical community resources could offer alternatives that complement the existing system, thus contributing to the development of community-based primary healthcare for all.

MaD Social Lab team,
Make A Difference Institute

Link Workers and older adults explored Social Prescribing solutions together.

Link Workers learned communication skills and health knowledge to prepare for co-creating Social Prescribing solutions.

Link Workers had in-depth discussions with older adults, using innovative interventions to explore community needs.

Link Workers and older adults explored Social Prescribing solutions together.

Link Workers learned communication skills and health knowledge to prepare for co-creating Social Prescribing solutions.

Link Workers had in-depth discussions with older adults, using innovative interventions to explore community needs.

The World Health Organization has declared loneliness to be a “pressing health threat” worldwide, with health risks comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Many studies have confirmed that loneliness not only increases mortality risks, but also worsens health problems such as hypertension, depression, and anxiety. According to the “Elderly Mental Wellness Telescreening Survey in Hong Kong 2022” conducted by the University of Hong Kong, a third of older adults in Hong Kong suffered from depression, anxiety, or loneliness. Loneliness is clearly spreading in our community and is a cause of mental health issues.

Yet, little is known about the practice of Social Prescribing in Hong Kong. Since early 2024, MaD has been receiving funding from ZeShan Foundation and the Phillip K. H. Wong Foundation to launch the Social Prescribing Lab. This program tests how to alleviate loneliness in older adults through exploring community resources and linking them to individuals, going beyond conventional medically-driven frameworks. The program piloted in Tai Kok Tsui and Sai Ying Pun, where Link Workers of different backgrounds and professions were recruited and trained. They were paired with older adults to establish relationships of trust and to co-create Social Prescribing solutions that were individualized and user-centric. The Link Workers then accompanied the older adults to take part in the prescribed activities.

MaD’s localized model aims to go deep into communities and explore untapped resources for primary healthcare, as well as mobilizing manpower reserves (such as ‘mid-old’ retirees and university students) to relieve pressures on health and social care. Through the process of co-creation and experimentation with older adults, it also aims to build ‘meaningful connections’ that foster social capital, so as to support older adults in overcoming social isolation and improving their quality of life. Ultimately, we hope that this exploration of non-medical community resources could offer alternatives that complement the existing system, thus contributing to the development of community-based primary healthcare for all.

MaD Social Lab team,
Make A Difference Institute

House of Senior Wellness

Happy Ageing Lab Foundation, Hong Kong

House of Senior Wellness

Happy Ageing Lab Foundation, Hong Kong

Against the backdrop of increased longevity, we have witnessed an influx of expertise and ideas across sectors to reimagine various fronts of life after adulthood, from daily living, to participation in learning, work and social activities. However, when it comes to living space where elders spend most of their time in, we might find it less often to talk about and act on.

Sharing the vision for bridging gaps in senior housing development, ZeShan Foundation teamed up with Ho Cheung Shuk Yuen Charitable Foundation in early 2023 to provide a 2-year capacity building grant for incubating Happy Ageing Lab Foundation as the new think-and-do tank to build a more age-friendly living environment.

Happy Ageing Lab Foundation will keep pushing forward on the endeavours in revamping the design and management of local built environment for healthy ageing, through (i) advancing its capacity in knowledge mobilisation (ii) connecting and supporting more like-minded housing providers & professionals, NGOs, and of course residents to pilot innovative age-friendly housing design around Hong Kong.

ZeShan looks forward to seeing where this journey will lead us to. May there be more inclusive housing design ideas in bloom? Would it be possible to enrich existing narratives around active ageing? Let’s stay tuned.

Alexa Li
Assistant Program Manager
ZeShan Foundation

Elderly participants sharing their thoughts on the ideal open space in housing estates during a co-design workshop.

Youth sharing their opinions on their living patterns and expectations on intergenerational living in a focus group.

An elderly couple indicating their preferences on age-friendly flats in a street polling session.

Elderly participants sharing their thoughts on the ideal open space in housing estates during a co-design workshop.

Youth sharing their opinions on their living patterns and expectations on intergenerational living in a focus group.

An elderly couple indicating their preferences on age-friendly flats in a street polling session.

Chinese medicine practitioner checking on villager

Elderly participants sharing their thoughts on the ideal open space in housing estates during a co-design workshop.

Youth sharing their opinions on their living patterns and expectations on intergenerational living in a focus group.

An elderly couple indicating their preferences on age-friendly flats in a street polling session.

Against the backdrop of increased longevity, we have witnessed an influx of expertise and ideas across sectors to reimagine various fronts of life after adulthood, from daily living, to participation in learning, work and social activities. However, when it comes to living space where elders spend most of their time in, we might find it less often to talk about and act on.

Sharing the vision for bridging gaps in senior housing development, ZeShan Foundation teamed up with Ho Cheung Shuk Yuen Charitable Foundation in early 2023 to provide a 2-year capacity building grant for incubating Happy Ageing Lab Foundation as the new think-and-do tank to build a more age-friendly living environment.

Happy Ageing Lab Foundation will keep pushing forward on the endeavours in revamping the design and management of local built environment for healthy ageing, through (i) advancing its capacity in knowledge mobilisation (ii) connecting and supporting more like-minded housing providers & professionals, NGOs, and of course residents to pilot innovative age-friendly housing design around Hong Kong.

ZeShan looks forward to seeing where this journey will lead us to. May there be more inclusive housing design ideas in bloom? Would it be possible to enrich existing narratives around active ageing? Let’s stay tuned.

Alexa Li
Assistant Program Manager
ZeShan Foundation

Missing Links between Primary Healthcare and Rural Elderly

Sai Kung District Community Center, Hong Kong

Missing Links between Primary Healthcare and Rural Elderly

Sai Kung District Community Center, Hong Kong

Health inequity in rural areas is sometimes neglected in our city. In Sai Kung alone, there are more than 158,800 senior citizens, accounting for 32% of the district population. It is estimated that at least 10,000 of them are still living dispersedly and remotely among 110 rural villages, very far away from the closest major government-funded healthcare facilities in the urban town of Tseung Kwan O.

In addition, insufficient internet coverage remains as one of the greatest hurdles for implementing telehealth services there, as concluded in our supported pilot project by Sai Kung District Community Centre (SKDCC). Despite numerous barriers, as a community-based NGO, SKDCC continues its pursuit to address the service gaps at the first contact point of primary healthcare system and to explore more effective solutions for ageing-in-place in rural areas.

Since July 2022, ZeShan Foundation, together with Kerry Group, has therefore been co-funding SKDCC’s another 3-year pilot project “Mobile Primary Healthcare in Rural Sai Kung for Elderly”. The team has been reaching out to elderly villagers to strengthen their self-efficacy, through combining the use of smart devices for monitoring, health coaching, mobilisation of community health ambassadors and case management, with a more holistic lens of maintaining a better quality of life in terms of healthcare and social connections. These approaches align with ZeShan’s three guiding principles, namely ‘empowerment’ (by increasing the capacity of older persons to take charge of their own health, and of communities to take care of each), “engagement & collaboration” (by facilitating partnerships among social workers, pharmacies, researchers and community members, including the development of protocols and mechanism of collaboration), and “catalyzing innovations and flexibility” (by providing capital to an NGO such as SKDCC to test new collaborations and engage policy-making stakeholders).

Mobile service can adapt to topography of remote villages

Outreach service in the villages

Chinese medicine practitioner checking on villager

Service team visits remote villages

Mobile service can adapt to topography of remote villages

Outreach service in the villages

Chinese medicine practitioner checking on villager

Service team visits remote villages

Mobile service can adapt to topography of remote villages

Health inequity in rural areas is sometimes neglected in our city. In Sai Kung alone, there are more than 158,800 senior citizens, accounting for 32% of the district population. It is estimated that at least 10,000 of them are still living dispersedly and remotely among 110 rural villages, very far away from the closest major government-funded healthcare facilities in the urban town of Tseung Kwan O.

In addition, insufficient internet coverage remains as one of the greatest hurdles for implementing telehealth services there, as concluded in our supported pilot project by Sai Kung District Community Centre (SKDCC). Despite numerous barriers, as a community-based NGO, SKDCC continues its pursuit to address the service gaps at the first contact point of primary healthcare system and to explore more effective solutions for ageing-in-place in rural areas.

Since July 2022, ZeShan Foundation, together with Kerry Group, has therefore been co-funding SKDCC’s another 3-year pilot project “Mobile Primary Healthcare in Rural Sai Kung for Elderly”. The team has been reaching out to elderly villagers to strengthen their self-efficacy, through combining the use of smart devices for monitoring, health coaching, mobilisation of community health ambassadors and case management, with a more holistic lens of maintaining a better quality of life in terms of healthcare and social connections. These approaches align with ZeShan’s three guiding principles, namely ‘empowerment’ (by increasing the capacity of older persons to take charge of their own health, and of communities to take care of each), “engagement & collaboration” (by facilitating partnerships among social workers, pharmacies, researchers and community members, including the development of protocols and mechanism of collaboration), and “catalyzing innovations and flexibility” (by providing capital to an NGO such as SKDCC to test new collaborations and engage policy-making stakeholders).

Moreover, this project is also testing a community-based referral system for professional treatment and a co-payment system referencing government subsidy scale like Health Care Voucher and Community Care Service Voucher, etc. Evidence-based evaluation would also be conducted in order to assess the project outcomes, including connectivity between social resources and the actual needs for these underserved communities in remote areas.

As an effort to expand its partnership, SKDCC has also received free health coaching for its nurse staff and free nursing support from the project team of HomeAge of the City University of Hong Kong.

Tsz Kwan Lai
Assistant Operations Manager
ZeShan Foundation

Moreover, this project is also testing a community-based referral system for professional treatment and a co-payment system referencing government subsidy scale like Health Care Voucher and Community Care Service Voucher, etc. Evidence-based evaluation would also be conducted in order to assess the project outcomes, including connectivity between social resources and the actual needs for these underserved communities in remote areas.

As an effort to expand its partnership, SKDCC has also received free health coaching for its nurse staff and free nursing support from the project team of HomeAge of the City University of Hong Kong.

Tsz Kwan Lai
Assistant Operations Manager
ZeShan Foundation

Tele-healthcare in Remote Villages of Sai Kung

Sai Kung District Community Center, Hong Kong

Sai Kung District Community Center (“SKDCC”) is committed to breaking the barriers of geographical dispersion and inconvenience in rural areas with technology, anticipating the perception of rural areas of Hong Kong as enticing alternatives to urban regions. By channeling community capital into the rural community, they are realizing their mission: “to connect and mobilize community resources, to love and care our folks and nature across Sai Kung.”

In joint efforts with ZeShan, SKDCC is providing primary healthcare services for village residents in a new program: Tele-healthcare and Medication Guidance Pilot Project in Sai Kung Rural Communities. The concerns of rural residents often remain in the periphery of the government’s attention, and is hardly addressed by healthcare resources currently provided by the government. One particular pain point is the difficulty rural residents face in reaching mainstream services and resources, especially the elderly population. This situation has only been exacerbated by the current COVID-19 epidemic, where it has become more difficult for them to update their health status, get medical follow-ups, and receive necessary treatment. SKDCC’s program aims at filling this service gap.

While the concept behind this project was not created from scratch, it not been realized due to a lack of resources specifically allocated by Hong Kong’s system to improve the aforementioned situation in rural areas. So far, the program has addressed 40 cases through the provision of 173 home-visit sessions by doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. A total of 221 sessions were conducted for tele-nursing consultation, caregiver consultation and case follow-up.

ZeShan and SKDCC are both striving to make stronger impacts on society, optimistic from the attention and media coverage on this pressing issue brought about by this program. We are hopeful that the outcome evaluation will shed new light on both the social and healthcare sectors to improve the effectiveness of primary healthcare in rural areas.

https://zeshanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SKDCC-640x480.jpg

https://zeshanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_5695-640x480.jpg

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Global Community Project Awards

2020-Present Health & Well Being Hepatitis

First Global Fund to Eliminate Hepatitis

The Hepatitis Fund, Global

The Hepatitis Fund (“THF”) is a global funding organization, which has been incubated by ZeShan Foundation since 2017. Publicly known as EndHep2030, THF was officially detached from the sponsorship of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisers (RPA) in November 2019, and registered as a non-profit organization in Geneva. By funding a variety of efforts proven most effective, THF intends to overcome the barriers that currently prevent countries from properly addressing viral hepatitis as a global public health threat – a pandemic that will kill 1.4 million people a year.

Following the 2016 Hepatitis Summit in Hong Kong, our support towards THF was part of our efforts to capstone the Hepatitis Program which has been developed since 2010.

For more details, please visit our partner’s website: https://endhep2030.org/