今早為Asian Medical Students Association Hong Kong (AMSAHK)的新一屆執行委員會就職典禮作致詞分享嘉賓，題目為「疫情中的健康不公平」。
感謝他們的熱情款待以及為整段致詞拍了影片。以下我附上致詞的英文原稿：

It's been my honor to be invited to give the closing remarks for the Inauguration Ceremony for the incoming executive committee of the Asian Medical Students' Association Hong Kong (AMSAHK) this morning. A video has been taken for the remarks I made regarding health inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic (big thanks to the student who withstood the soreness of her arm for holding the camera up for 15 minutes straight), and here's the transcript of the main body of the speech that goes with this video:

//The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, continues to be rampant around the world since early 2020, resulting in more than 55 million cases and 1.3 million deaths worldwide as of today. (So no! It’s not a hoax for those conspiracy theorists out there!) A higher rate of incidence and deaths, as well as worse health-related quality of life have been widely observed in the socially disadvantaged groups, including people of lower socioeconomic position, older persons, migrants, ethnic minority and communities of color, etc. While epidemiologists and scientists around the world are dedicated in gathering scientific evidence on the specific causes and determinants of the health inequalities observed in different countries and regions, we can apply the Social Determinants of Health Conceptual Framework developed by the World Health Organization team led by the eminent Prof Sir Michael Marmot, world’s leading social epidemiologist, to understand and delineate these social determinants of health inequalities related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to this framework, social determinants of health can be largely categorized into two types – 1) the lower stream, intermediary determinants, and 2) the upper stream, structural and macro-environmental determinants. For the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized that the lower stream factors may include material circumstances, such as people’s living and working conditions. For instance, the nature of the occupations of these people of lower socioeconomic position tends to require them to travel outside to work, i.e., they cannot work from home, which is a luxury for people who can afford to do it. This lack of choice in the location of occupation may expose them to greater risk of infection through more transportation and interactions with strangers. We have also seen infection clusters among crowded places like elderly homes, public housing estates, and boarding houses for foreign domestic helpers. Moreover, these socially disadvantaged people tend to have lower financial and social capital – it can be observed that they were more likely to be deprived of personal protective equipment like face masks and hand sanitizers, especially during the earlier days of the pandemic. On the other hand, the upper stream, structural determinants of health may include policies related to public health, education, macroeconomics, social protection and welfare, as well as our governance… and last, but not least, our culture and values. If the socioeconomic and political contexts are not favorable to the socially disadvantaged, their health and well-being will be disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Therefore, if we, as a society, espouse to address and reduce the problem of health inequalities, social determinants of health cannot be overlooked in devising and designing any public health-related strategies, measures and policies.

Although a higher rate of incidence and deaths have been widely observed in the socially disadvantaged groups, especially in countries with severe COVID-19 outbreaks, this phenomenon seems to be less discussed and less covered by media in Hong Kong, where the disease incidence is relatively low when compared with other countries around the world. Before the resurgence of local cases in early July, local spread of COVID-19 was sporadic and most cases were imported. In the earlier days of the pandemic, most cases were primarily imported by travelers and return-students studying overseas, leading to a minor surge between mid-March and mid-April of 874 new cases. Most of these cases during Spring were people who could afford to travel and study abroad, and thus tended to be more well-off. Therefore, some would say the expected social gradient in health impact did not seem to exist in Hong Kong, but may I remind you that, it is only the case when we focus on COVID-19-specific incidence and mortality alone. But can we really deduce from this that COVID-19-related health inequality does not exist in Hong Kong? According to the Social Determinants of Health Framework mentioned earlier, the obvious answer is “No, of course not.” And here’s why…

In addition to the direct disease burden, the COVID-19 outbreak and its associated containment measures (such as economic lockdown, mandatory social distancing, and change of work arrangements) could have unequal wider socioeconomic impacts on the general population, especially in regions with pervasive existing social inequalities. Given the limited resources and capacity of the socioeconomically disadvantaged to respond to emergency and adverse events, their general health and well-being are likely to be unduly and inordinately affected by the abrupt changes in their daily economic and social conditions, like job loss and insecurity, brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak and the corresponding containment and mitigation measures of which the main purpose was supposedly disease prevention and health protection at the first place. As such, focusing only on COVID-19 incidence or mortality as the outcomes of concern to address health inequalities may leave out important aspects of life that contributes significantly to people’s health. Recently, my research team and I collaborated with Sir Michael Marmot in a Hong Kong study, and found that the poor people in Hong Kong fared worse in every aspects of life than their richer counterparts in terms of economic activity, personal protective equipment, personal hygiene practice, as well as well-being and health after the COVID-19 outbreak. We also found that part of the observed health inequality can be attributed to the pandemic and its related containment measures via people’s concerns over their own and their families’ livelihood and economic activity. In other words, health inequalities were contributed by the pandemic even in a city where incidence is relatively low through other social determinants of health that directly concerned the livelihood and economic activity of the people. So in this study, we confirmed that focusing only on the incident and death cases as the outcomes of concern to address health inequalities is like a story half-told, and would severely truncate and distort the reality.

Truth be told, health inequality does not only appear after the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, it is a pre-existing condition in countries and regions around the world, including Hong Kong. My research over the years have consistently shown that people in lower socioeconomic position tend to have worse physical and mental health status. Nevertheless, precisely because health inequality is nothing new, there are always voices in our society trying to dismiss the problem, arguing that it is only natural to have wealth inequality in any capitalistic society. However, in reckoning with health inequalities, we need to go beyond just figuring out the disparities or differences in health status between the poor and the rich, and we need to raise an ethically relevant question: are these inequalities, disparities and differences remediable? Can they be fixed? Can we do something about them? If they are remediable, and we can do something about them but we haven’t, then we’d say these inequalities are ultimately unjust and unfair. In other words, a society that prides itself in pursuing justice must, and I say must, strive to address and reduce these unfair health inequalities. Borrowing the words from famed sociologist Judith Butler, “the virus alone does not discriminate,” but “social and economic inequality will make sure that it does.” With COVID-19, we learn that it is not only the individuals who are sick, but our society. And it’s time we do something about it.

Thank you very much!//

Please join me in congratulating the incoming executive committee of AMSAHK and giving them the best wishes for their future endeavor!

Roger Chung, PhD
Assistant Professor, CUHK JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, @CUHK Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 香港中文大學 - CUHK
Associate Director, CUHK Institute of Health Equity

深夜英文中文好書分享📚
告訴我一本你喜歡的書，
愛你好禮「萬國23''行李箱」
祝你🐔年好快樂。

@eminent

8的書單推薦（英文到中文）:
My New York by New York Magazine
Ellen Degeneres by Ellen Degeneres
Movie Speak by Tony Bill
Before Sunrise&Before Sunset
X!為何我又站在雪地上 by 陶晶瑩
殺死小甜甜 by 蔡燦得
你說，寮國到底有什麼？by 村上春樹
皮膚照護教科書 by 細川桃

【美總統拉鋸戰 今早辯論決生死】

目前民調僅差不到 4% 的美國總統大選將在今天早上九點進行第一場電視實況辯論，整整 90 分鐘沒廣告，預計將吸引 1 億人觀看。

對台灣而言，提名川普的共和黨近期不僅在今年的美國國會上，通過對台灣的六項保證相關決議案，更把六項保證放入自身黨綱中，表現對台灣的強力支持，然而川普卻從未針對台灣或兩岸立場發言；另外，民主黨提民的希拉蕊，其夫柯林頓一直對台灣相當友好，前次蔡英文總統經過美國，甚至公開與柯林頓前美國總統的對話，並表達對希拉蕊今年選舉的祝福。

但無論是哪一邊當選，兩位參選人都曾表達對「跨太平洋夥伴協定」(TPP)的強烈不支持，這對台灣是個迎頭痛擊，如何應變，也考驗蔡英文政府的外交能力。

美國總統大選直播：
新唐人中文同聲口譯(9AM)：https://youtu.be/BI9Iu0DEw7U
中視特別報導(11AM)：https://youtu.be/sPNLIdbG1aE
英文版直播：https://youtu.be/855Am6ovK7s

＃美國總統 ＃大選辯論
--
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I N F O

03 Apr
口红：美宝莲SUPER STAY MATTE唇釉，色号80
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05 Apr
明辉田鸡粥 Eminent Frog Porridge：很好吃！喜欢吃田鸡的话不要错过！我们点的是宫保味道的，有点甜有点辣的，很好吃，价格也不贵
地址：323 Geylang Rd, Singapore 389359

06 Apr
口红：欧莱雅小钢笔唇釉，色号116
墨镜：网易严选
耳环：https://s.click.taobao.com/iruhVCw
早餐在Kopi & Tarts吃的，除了原味蛋挞其他都一般，喜欢吃蛋挞的话可以试试蛋挞
地址：新加坡很多分店，大家可以google离家近的~

超美的Olivia，刚刚从伦敦回到新加坡的博主，看她：https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1dh2ajtLIuT7nMD6GcUiwg

复古家具店：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoPn2GvfPDI&t=25s

榴莲：在马里士他路，我们经常去这边吃，附近有很多家榴莲摊，都还不错
地址：249 Balestier Rd, Singapore 329714

麻辣烫：老成都麻辣烫，每次都吃这一家，在Chinatown C出口靠近小贩中心的转角处

麻花：也在Chinatown C出口的店铺里面，名字不记得了~是正对珍珠坊的一家

07 Apr
很多人问的中国超市，有南京板鸭和AD钙奶的那一家，名字叫中国国货超市
地址：262 Geylang Rd

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C O N T A C T

微博: BelindaChen_
B站: BelindaChen_
Instagram: belindachen0229
Email: belindachen0229@gmail.com (Business only)

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D I S C O U N T C O D E S

Endentelle，新加坡的blogger shop，主要卖韩国服饰，折扣码：BCEN10, 10% off
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E Q U I P M E N T

?Camera: Canon G7x Mark ii + Canon M50
?Editing: Final Cut Pro X
?Music: Skydive — Loxbeats

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