Healthcare

With the theme of Reimagining the Future of Healthcare, the third Asia Summit on Global Health (ASGH) runs in Hong Kong on 17 and 18 May. The conference assembles stakeholders – from healthcare experts to renowned academia and influential business leaders, together with key industry players, innovative start-ups, investors and policymakers – from around the world to exchange insights, explore opportunities and collaborate on the diverse and dynamic healthcare sector.

Every one of us is a mobile ecosystem, full of microbes such as bacteria, fungi and protozoa, most of which are beneficial and work to keep their host organism healthy.

Boasting the longest life expectancy in the world, Hong Kong generates strong demand for medical and health services and products. Hong Kong company Enlighten developed a wireless home-care system to ensure elderly people could easily call for assistance. With the help of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council's (HKTDC) Transformation Sandbox (T-box) programme, they successfully expanded into the UK market.

Interest in healthcare and medical developments continues to grow, as economies worldwide recover from the COVID-19 crisis. Market leaders and industry players again congregated at the HKTDC Hong Kong International Medical and Healthcare Fair showcasing medical trends and innovations. Now in its 13th edition, the fair continued to draw an international crowd, including representatives from the Consulates General of Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, and the United States. The physical-online hybrid format, in which the event was conducted, encouraged both on-site and online interactions.

Hong Kong earlier this month hosted its second Asia Summit on Global Health (ASGH), as the city continues to garner international attention after further loosening COVID-19 restrictions. This year’s theme – “Charting a New Course in Healthcare through Collaboration” resonated strongly with Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab (main picture), Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization. In her video speech at the event’s opening session, Dr Jakab said the pandemic had infected more than 600 million people globally and claimed 6.5 million lives, so there was an “opportunity and, indeed, an obligation to learn from this pandemic” and accelerate progress on universal healthcare through concerted efforts in science, research, innovation, data and digital technologies.

Positioned as Asia’s thought-leadership event on health innovation and investment, last year’s inaugural Asia Summit on Global Health (ASGH) featured more than 70 internationally renowned speakers and attracted more than 21,000 on-site and online participants from 54 countries and regions. More than 200 one-to-one meetings matching funds with global healthcare projects were arranged during the event.