The current policy regarding the meals provided by pre-primary schools in Hong Kong is merely a set of guidelines that, although not practical or even properly implemented, provide suggestions for healthy meals that are beneficial to children. As a result, children have developed poor eating habits that have resulted in an increase in childhood obesity, among other health problems. Some of these health issues even continue through primary school. This study points out why the enforcement of the existing policy failed and the reasons that it was and is not properly applied by early childhood educators. It also addresses whether these educators act as role-models for healthy eating habits or take part in designing and providing healthy meals for their students. School life is a critical opportunity for young children to acquire and practice healthy lifestyles. School settings provide valuable resources for influencing health-related habits through policy measures, education, and food provision. In this study, a self-administered questionnaire survey was used to assess 58 early childhood educators. These educators were also Hong Kong Early Childhood Education students, with one group studying in the first year of a two-year higher diploma (n 28) and the other group studying in the second year of a three-year Bachelor Degree (n 30) in-service training programme. The survey studied a variety of elements, such as the related knowledge of the teachers, school nutrition policies, and the educational background of those who oversee nutrition-related services. The researcher found that the school meals did not meet nutritional standards and the early childhood educators’ perceptions of what constitutes a healthy diet was also found to be weak. Most of the respondents agreed that training the people who plan the school meal menus and cook the meals is not enough. This study provides an overview of the perceptions of early childhood educators about health and their understanding

The purpose of this study was to determine whether physical activity, percent body fat, and eating habits differ in subjects from two different regions, with different social cultural and racial background, but similar in education level. 257 Hong Kong college students (87 males and 170 females; all Chinese), and 213 Malaysian college students (101 males and 112 females; 210 Malays), aged between 18 to 25 year-old participated in this study. Physical activity and eating habits were evaluated by a self-completed questionnaire. Subjects' percent body fat was determined by a body fat monitor (Omron). It was found that Hong Kong subjects had significant (p<0.01) higher overall mean percent body fat (22.02 ± 5.23% versus 19.78 ± 6.83%, Mean ± SD), and were less active physically when compared to Malaysian students. However, Hong Kong subjects were more particular with breakfast, lunch and dinner compared to Malaysian subjects. Interestingly, Hong Kong students snacked frequently and indulged in fast food compared to Malaysian students. The data obtained suggest that both physical activity and eating habits have some influence on the percent body fat in subjects from these two different regions.
[Copyright © 2003 Verlag Karl Hofmann.]

Background: Forward planning and preventative measures before travelling can significantly reduce the risk of many vaccine preventable travel-related infectious diseases. Higher education students may be at an increased risk of importing infectious disease as many undertake multiple visits to regions with higher infectious disease endemicity. Little is known about the health behaviours of domestic or international university students, particularly students from low resource countries who travel to high-resource countries for education. This study aimed to assess travel-associated health risks and preventative behaviours in a sample of both domestic and international university students in Australia. Methods: In 2010, a 28 item self-administered online survey was distributed to students enrolled at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Multiple methods of distributing links to the online survey were utilised. The survey examined the international travel history, travel intentions, infection control behaviours and selfreported vaccination history. Results: A total of 1663 respondents completed the online survey, 22.1% were international students and 83.9% were enrolled at an undergraduate level. Half had travelled internationally in the previous 12 months, with 69% of those travelling only once during that time with no difference in travel from Australia between domestic and international students (p = 0.8). Uptake of pre-travel health advice was low overall with 68% of respondents reporting they had not sought any advice from a health professional prior to their last international trip. Domestic students were more likely to report uptake of a range of preventative travel health measures compared to international students, including diarrhoeal medication, insect repellent, food avoidance and condoms (P < 0.0001). Overall, students reported low risk perception of travel threats and a low corresponding concern for these threats. Conclusions: Our study highlights

Previous studies revealed a high prevalence of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in western adolescents and suggested the existence of multiple self-injurer subgroups. This study examined the prevalence of NSSI among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents and compared different subgroups of self-injurers on several psychological correlates of NSSI related to borderline personality disorder. A total of 6,374 secondary school students (67.6% girls) completed self-report questionnaires. Multivariate analyses of variance and follow-up logistic regression analyses were used to compare differences between subgroups of self-injurers. Overall, 15% of adolescents reported engaging in NSSI. Gender differences varied regarding different self-injury methods. Repetitive self-injurers had more emotional and impulse-control problems than episodic ones. Severe NSSI adolescents were also more impulsive than mild NSSI adolescents. The frequency and severity of NSSI acted as two important dimensions in distinguishing between self-injurers. Clinical implications of these results are discussed.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2011.540211]