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Executive Summary

There is no health without mental health

In 2018, Our Hong Kong Foundation (OHKF) published the policy paper
Fit for Purpose: A Health System for the 21st Century that put forward the imperative
need for Hong Kong to transform its health system to meet emerging healthcare
needs of the city’s rapidly ageing population. Hong Kong must move towards a
fit-for-purpose health system that can meet emerging needs in an ever-changing
context which necessitates accompanying system changes. Hong Kong needs to
reorient towards a health system that is primary care-led and person-centred, and
provides integrated care to optimise citizens’ health—a state the paper understood
as not just the absence of disease, but “of complete physical, mental, and social
well-being” (WHO, n.d.-a).

While mental health conditions span a spectrum of severity, the population can
broadly be categorised into three groups: (1) persons with severe mental illness (SMI),
(2) persons with common mental disorder (CMD), and (3) the general population,
including those at risk.

Figure A. Categorisation of population mental health across
a spectrum of severity

Less severe More severe

General population Common Severe
(“well” and at-risk) mental disorder (CMD) mental illness (SMI)

Examples: Examples: Examples:
• School leavers • Anxiety disorders • Psychotic disorders
• Teenage mothers • Depression • Bipolar disorder
• Isolated elderly
• People with chronic
illness
• People with lower
socioeconomic status

Source: FHB, 2017

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