Conference summary

Schools Award, has been developed to enable comprehen-sive collection and analysis of data reflecting the status of health-promoting schools (HPS) in Hong Kong. The key findings revealed a high prevalence of emotional pro-blems, unhealthy eating habits, physical inactivity and risk-taking behaviours, leading to both intentional and unintentional injuries among students with higher preva-lence among secondary school students. The results indi-cated a substantial lack of health policies in schools; it also indicated health services in schools not readily accessible to students and staff, and insufficient staff train-ing in health promotion and education. However, most schools have made initiatives in environmental protection, established safety guidelines and strategies for managing students with emotional problems. The success of HPS depends largely on teachers ’ understanding of its building blocks. Evidence from the comprehensive mapping of the status of HPS in Hong Kong and from student surveys does show encouraging outcomes as well as identifying priority issues to be addressed in the next 5 years. Key words: health-promoting schools; evaluation; model; health statu