Hong Kong Unveils First Territory-Wide Weight Management Strategy to Address Rising Obesity Rates

Key Takeaways:

• Hong Kong has launched its first comprehensive three-year Action Plan on Weight Management, introduced on World Obesity Day (4 March) in response to data showing that more than half of the city’s adults are living with overweight or obesity.
  
• The strategy is built around five pillars and 15 specific objectives, including improved health education, strengthened healthcare services, and environmental changes that support healthier lifestyles.
  
• Officials acknowledge that low awareness and misperceptions about body weight remain major barriers, with many individuals who are overweight believing their weight is “just right”.
  
  
  

Hong Kong launches its first comprehensive weight management plan

Hong Kong has introduced its first territory-wide action plan aimed at improving weight management across the population, marking a significant step in the city’s efforts to address rising levels of overweight and obesity.

The initiative was officially launched on World Obesity Day, 4 March, and will run for three years. It follows findings from the Department of Health’s Population Health Survey conducted between 2020 and 2022, which revealed that more than half of Hong Kong’s adult population are living with either overweight or obesity.

Officials have positioned the plan as part of broader international and national efforts to address obesity. The strategy contributes to China’s national Weight Management Year initiative and aligns with the World Health Organization’s global framework aimed at reducing obesity worldwide.

The new plan aims not only to raise awareness of weight management but also to create conditions that make healthier choices easier for people across the territory.

A framework built around five strategic pillars

The action plan is organised around five core pillars, each designed to address different aspects of weight management across society.

These pillars include:

• Strengthening health education and promotion
  
• Creating a supportive social environment
  
• Enhancing health service delivery
  
• Adopting a life-course approach to health promotion
  
• Continuously monitoring population weight trends
  

Together, these pillars translate into 15 concrete objectives that government departments will pursue during the programme’s three-year implementation period.

The timeline of the plan is also structured in stages. 2026 will focus primarily on raising public awareness, helping people better understand healthy weight and lifestyle behaviours. The second year will concentrate on encouraging positive behavioural change, while the final year will emphasise long-term maintenance, with the goal of embedding healthier habits into everyday life.

Public initiatives begin with a city-wide walking challenge

The first public initiative under the strategy will begin on 21 March, when authorities launch a “10,000 Steps a Day” walking challenge.

The programme will be integrated into the eHealth mobile application’s e+Life platform, allowing participants to track their daily activity digitally. The launch will be marked by a ceremony and public carnival at the West Kowloon Cultural District, intended to encourage participation and raise awareness about physical activity.

Alongside this campaign, the action plan outlines several longer-term measures aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles across the city.

These include:

• Installing weight measurement devices in public housing estates and schools
  
• Integrating weight management education into school curricula
  
• Designing pedestrian-friendly urban environments that encourage walking and other forms of physical activity
  

By combining digital tools, education, and environmental changes, officials hope to create a more supportive ecosystem for healthier behaviours.

A life-course approach to health promotion

According to public health officials, the plan adopts a life-course approach, addressing health and weight management from the earliest stages of life through to older adulthood.

Dr Edwin Tsui, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, explained that the strategy is intended to cover the entire lifespan.

He said the plan takes “a systematic approach covering the full lifespan, from prenatal nutrition to maintaining function in old age.”

Tsui also emphasised the role of primary healthcare as a central component of the initiative, noting that healthcare services will act as the gatekeeper of public health within the strategy.

The plan also encourages collaboration between Chinese medicine and Western medicine practitioners, reflecting Hong Kong’s mixed healthcare landscape. At the same time, authorities intend to use the eHealth digital platform to help residents track and manage their personal health information.

Low awareness and misperceptions present major challenges

Despite the ambitious scope of the initiative, health officials acknowledge that significant barriers remain.

One of the most notable challenges is limited awareness about healthy weight and weight management among the public.

Dr Anne Chee, head of the Non-Communicable Disease Branch at the Department of Health, highlighted this issue during a radio programme. She explained that many individuals living with overweight may not recognise it as a health concern.

Among people who are overweight, she said two-thirds believe their weight is “just right” or even “too thin.”

Chee also noted that many individuals have taken no action to manage their weight over the past year, reflecting gaps in public understanding of healthy weight management.

She further emphasised that some people may not know how to calculate their body mass index, pointing to broader deficiencies in knowledge related to weight and health.

Sustaining behaviour change may prove difficult

Experts outside government have also raised concerns about the challenge of maintaining behavioural change over time.

Sports scientist Professor Lobo Louie from the Education University of Hong Kong warned that while awareness campaigns can be effective, they do not always translate into lasting lifestyle changes.

Louie pointed to the gap between initial engagement and long-term commitment, noting that maintaining motivation may prove difficult for many individuals.

This highlights a broader challenge faced by public health initiatives worldwide – transforming awareness into sustained behaviour change.

Cross-government collaboration to support healthier lifestyles

The action plan is designed as a cross-government initiative, bringing together multiple public agencies.

Departments involved include those responsible for:

• Health
  
• Education
  
• Leisure and cultural services
  
• Urban planning
  

A cross-departmental working group established in October is coordinating these efforts. The group aims to strengthen collaboration not only within government but also with businesses, academic institutions, and community organisations.

Officials hope that this multi-sector approach will create broader societal support for healthier lifestyles.

A voluntary strategy with long-term ambitions

For the moment, the programme relies largely on voluntary participation and public education, rather than regulatory measures.

Whether these measures will be sufficient to reverse current trends remains uncertain. Officials recognise that individual willpower or clinical care alone cannot solve the obesity challenge.

Instead, they emphasise that the wider social and physical environment must also support healthier choices, making it easier for people to adopt and maintain healthy behaviours.Further information about the strategy and related initiatives is available on the Department of Health’s Change4Health website.

CCH insight:

We wish the authorities and people of Hong Kong the best of luck with this programme, but evidence from other countries suggest it is highly unlikely to make a significant reduction in the prevalence of obesity. We know that obesity results from genetic and biological factors driving overeating, made possible by an environment which encourages over-consumption of food. The programme is not attempting to change the population’s biology (by increasing access to anti-obesity medications, for example), nor to restrict the availability of obesogenic foods, so it is unlikely to lead to the kind of changes in behaviour it is aiming for.