The 15th World Congress on Public Health in Melbourne, Australia

CCOUC members Dr Tony Yung and Mr Zhe Huang participated in the 15th World Congress on Public Health (WCPH) in Melbourne, Australia from 3rd to 7th April 2017. Being held every 2-4 years, the WCPH is an excellent opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and experiences on key public health issues, contributing towards protecting and promoting public health at national and global levels. Through panel discussions, workshops, posters and story-telling sessions, more than 3,000 international delegates gathered and contributed to three broad themes including: 1) improving health outcomes for all, 2) fighting inequity as the primary driver of poor health, with particular emphasis on women, children, indigenous peoples as well as poor and marginalised communities, and 3) demanding political, social, environmental and economic change across all sectors for better and more sustainable health.

The five papers presented by CCOUC covered research findings ranging from CCOUC’s Ethnic Minority Health Project to urban disaster preparedness and Sustainable Development Goals, namely, 1) Separate collection of plastic waste in rural China: a comparison between two Dong-ethnic minority villages, 2) Rana Plaza collapse: a case study of the devastating health impact of limited disaster preparedness, 3) Leaving no one behind: advocating for health as the key to achieve the SDGs, 4) Practice of protective measures against cold spell in Hong Kong, and 5) Do socioeconomic factors affect the cold-related symptoms in a subtropical city? - the case of Hong Kong.