June 27, 2010

Participants of the study tour at the COSH headquarters.

On June 21-26, 2010 in Hong Kong, a tobacco control training program and study tour took place at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong. With excellent coordination and logistical support by Sun Yat-Sen University School of Public Health and the University of Hong Kong, 36 participants from 13 CMB grantee schools, the China Preventative Medicine Association, and four staff members of the Beijing Office spent three days in Hong Kong touring several institutions and one day at Guangzhou City for a communication capacity training workshop.

The tour included visits to the University of Hong Kong, Kwai Chung Hospital, and the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH). In addition to these institutional visits, participants attended lectures and briefings by local tobacco control leaders and experts on topics ranging from the creation of an anti-tobacco medical university to best practices of tobacco control legislation. CMB’s Dr. Shaojun Ma gave a brief introduction to international best practice on creating tobacco-free campuses at the beginning of the workshop. Each lecture and briefing was followed by a lively question and answer period.  The participants met with director of School of Public Professor Tai-Hing Lam, the HK government tobacco control office team headed by Dr. Lam Man-kin, chairwoman of COSH Ms. Lisa Lau, and representatives from Kwai Chung Hospital. 

The training program concluded with a one-day training workshop at Guangzhou. Mr. James Liu, a media specialist serving as a CMB tobacco project consultant, led a training session focusing on how to formulate key messages for communication with and through media. During the training, attendees acted as spokespersons for a illustrative press meeting in order to improve their communication skills as related to their tobacco control work.