Fighting COVID-19 @ Lingnan

Contribution of Chinese Medicines to the Prevention of COVID-19 for the Elderly in Hong Kong

Professor Albert Leung, Professor (Clinic Practice) of Asia Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies

The elderly are believed to be at high risk of COVID-19 and, to fight the virus and the pandemic, prevention is always better than cure. Traditional Chinese medicines can play an important role in this. To encourage the correct usage and understanding of the role of traditional Chinese medicines in the prevention of COVID-19 and help the elderly at this difficult and lonely time of social distancing, LU scholars have launched a project entitled “Contribution of Chinese Medicines to the Prevention of COVID-19 for the Elderly in Hong Kong”, supported by the HKSAR Government’s Chinese Medicine Promotion Fund and led by Prof Albert Leung, Professor (Clinic Practice) of Asia Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies. In the first stage, a registered traditional Chinese medicine practitioner will visit organisations for the elderly to demonstrate the preparation of Chinese medicine soups for disease prevention. Taped lectures will also be distributed to explain the use of Chinese medicines before signs and symptoms of the disease occur and how to strengthen the health system.

In the second stage, after the epidemic has subsided, two public seminars, informative videos and information packs will be produced by LU called “Prevention of COVID-19 for the Elderly - TCM chapter” to further demonstrate how traditional Chinese medicines can help to prevent future epidemics and other health threats to Hong Kong.