Letters | Hong Kong leader’s policy address pushed right buttons on mental health
Readers discuss mental health-related measures in the policy blueprint, the closure of kindergartens during inclement weather, and preserving Hong Kong’s food culture
The chief executive pressed many of the right buttons on mental health in his 2025 policy address.
In the relevant section of his speech, he started by drawing a useful distinction between treatment and prevention. Conflation of the two happens frequently in public discourse, potentially causing those with clinical symptoms to hesitate to seek professional help.
Of the nine measures he delineated, the last one – finalising the stepped care model and setting out the roles and work of mental health professionals and stakeholders – is among those of the most fundamental importance, because an accurate demarcation of responsibilities precedes everything else. One caveat, however, is that the stepped layers in the model need to be sufficiently porous so that patients will not have to jump through hoops to get the right treatment.
To a certain extent, this issue has been addressed by proposals to add six more District Health Centres providing mental-health services to the current three, and to provide more convenient service options. But given that a large majority of people suffering from mental health problems here do not seek help, those measures need to be complemented by more effective strategies to raise society’s level of sophistication in perceiving mental illness, which advances in scientific knowledge of the brain demand.