Hong Kong unveiled its first-ever action plan for weight management on Wednesday, marking World Obesity Day with a comprehensive strategy built around five key pillars. These include strengthening health education to boost public understanding of personal weight indicators, fostering a supportive social environment, enhancing healthcare services, adopting a life-course approach to health promotion and continuously monitoring weight trends among citizens. In a statement, the Department of Health said the plan brings together multiple government bureaus and departments to pool resources and strengthen collaboration between Chinese and Western medicine. It sets out 15 specific objectives to be achieved through a variety of initiatives, aiming to drive weight management efforts across the city and support citizens in building a healthier, more vibrant community. Key objectives include promoting healthy eating from market to table, encouraging a culture of physical activity, offering personalised weight management care plans, improving referral mechanisms within primary healthcare and integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine principles through multidisciplinary teams. The action plan will be rolled out over three years with the themes "Raise Awareness", "Positive Changes" and "Maintenance - Part of Life". The department said this phased approach is designed to implement the five strategic directions and 15 objectives in a systematic and progressive manner. Dr Edwin Tsui, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said the plan seeks to strengthen primary healthcare’s role as the "gatekeeper" of public health. By promoting collaboration between Chinese and Western medicine and integrating health data through the "eHealth" platform, the initiative aims to help citizens manage their wellbeing - allowing traditional wisdom and modern evidence-based medicine to complement each other in safeguarding public health. Kicking off the first year under the "Raise Awareness" theme, the government will launch a regularised walking challenge as part of the "10,000 Steps a Day" campaign. Starting March 21, the challenge will be available on the e+Life platform within the "eHealth" mobile app, encouraging the public to explore various themed routes with family and friends and make physical activity a part of daily life. Edited by Thomas McAlinden