One Health

Format Zoom Speakers Dr Nick OR, Dr Nick PETROVSKY, Professor Richard WALKER Abstract Over the last few months, we surveyed the Hong Kong general public on three separate occasions about their reactions to tools to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. These tools included: – different graphical ways to present information; – different versions of a hypothetical but realistically presented contact tracing app. We will explain how we did our research and implications of our findings for public service delivery, including which ways of presenting disease patterns and designing a contact tracing app increase citizen acceptance. Event details Please refer to the event poster. Register Click here (please register by 11:30 on 16 November, one hour before the talk)

Format Zoom Speakers Dr HUANG Guanxiong Using Messaging Strategy to Reduce Optimistic Bias in Health and Risk Communication Optimistic bias is individuals’ cognitive tendency of perceiving the risks to a hazardous event or disease for themselves lower than for others. Put it simply, “It is a serious issue, but it is someone else’s issue.” Optimistic bias has been observed with various health and risk issues, such as H1N1 flu and climate change, and may have a negative impact on people’s willingness to take preventive measures. I will present my research on message design strategy that can effectively reduce optimistic bias and in turn persuade people to take action against the hazardous event or disease. Dr KIM Ji Won From Risk Butterflies to Citizens Engaged in Risk Prevention in the Zika Virus Crisis Social media have become an important venue for communicating information about health risks during public health crises. Despite that individuals not only receive risk information but also actively share it within their social networks, little is known about how the bidirectional use of social media would influence their risk perceptions and subsequent health behaviors. Hence, in this talk, I will present a study which examines how two-way social media communication (i.e., posting and receiving risk information on social media) are linked to different levels of risk perceptions, and in turn, this leads to information seeking and preventive behaviors. Implications of the findings will also be discussed in light of communication strategies that motivate users to share accurate risk information during the pandemic. Dr DAI Yue Observing Interactions in Online Mental Health Support Groups: A Masspersonal Perspective to Social Support Common mental disorders are a pressing global public health issue. Although prior research has revealed invaluable insights on the benefits of online health support groups, it focused more on active posters in these groups while neglecting the lurkers. This seminar presents two studies on how observers of interactions in online support communities relate to the interactants in the conversations and experience the interactions vicariously. The results shed light on passive use of online support groups and guide the design of online support communities. Event details Please refer to the event poster Register Click here (after registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting) Enquiries OH.seminar@cityu.edu.hk

Format Zoom Speakers Dr Nick OR A Tale of Two City-states: A Comparison of the State-led vs Civil Society-led Responses to COVID-19 in Singapore and Hong Kong This paper compares the early pandemic response in Singapore and Hong Kong, two Asian city-states of similar sizes with a shared history of SARS, and advanced medical systems. Although both were able to contain the disease, they did so using two very dierent approaches. Using data from cross-national surveys, news, and mobility data, we demonstrate that, in protest-ridden Hong Kong, low governmental trust bolstered civil society, which focused on self-mobilization and community mutual-help. In Singapore, a state-led response model that marginalized civil society brought early success but failed to stem an outbreak among its egregated migrant population. The study sheds light on the roles of state and non-state actors in a crisis. Prof Mark R THOMPSON Popularity without Performance: The Philippine Government Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s response to the COVID-19 virus has been in line with his ‘macho populism’ similar to Donald Trump’s in the US and Jair Bolsonaro’s in Brazil. Like these illiberal leaders, a lockdown of Metro Manila and most of the rest of the Philippines since mid-March was implemented only after Duterte’s initial denialism, in the face of the growing threat from the rapidly spreading virus. Once Duterte did nally act, it was in a haphazard (particularly in terms of the lack of adequate testing and contract tracing) and highly militarised fashion Yet recent opinion polls show Duterte’s popularity has actually increased despite the country’s poor performance during the pandemic (the highest caseload in Southeast Asia as of this writing). This paper analyzes Duterte’s political ‘success’ despite governance failures during the pandemic in ideational (populist appeals), institutional (the lack of accountability in the country’s ‘hyperpresidentialist’ system), and structural terms (the weakness of a socially oriented political alternative despite the country’s extreme levels of inequality). Dr Nicholas THOMAS Anti-Microbial Resistance in China Since the turn of the century, China has been a major source of infectious disease outbreaks (SARS, H5N1, H7N9, COVID-19). It is also the source of the MCR-1 gene that confers resistance to colistin, a ‘last line’ antibiotic that can be deployed against multidrug resistant infections. With the largest population of any country combined with its status as a major supplier of produce, evaluating the emergence of AMR in China and Chinese responses to the threat is critical to understanding the global response. This paper starts by reviewing how Chinese authorities have framed the issue. The analysis focuses on antibiotic usage in both humans and the agricultural sector. Finally, the domestic and international implications of China’s responses are considered. Based on interviews with key Chinese and international ocials, scientists, and public health specialists as well as farmers and consumers, we present data that argues the securitization of AMR in China is currently more concerned with policy and resource competition than with addressing an existential threat. Event details Please refer to the event poster Register Click here (after registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting) Enquiries OH.seminar@cityu.edu.hk