Focusing on issues affecting civil society, we'll hear from representatives of NGOs, associations, statutory bodies, and non-profit groups.
Good morning, thanks for having this morning. At Orbis, we have a simple belief: protecting vision isn’t just a medical issue; it’s a community responsibility. Every one of us has a part to play in helping others keep sight safe. Today, I’d like to tell you a story - the story of Hong Kong’s aging eyes, and why half of our population may soon face serious vision challenges.
When you think of Hong Kong, what comes to mind? Neon lights, the serene views, the dense forest of skyscrapers. We are a city that sees the world in colour and in movement. But behind that beauty, a silent crisis has been developing among our older population.
In late 2025, Orbis collaborated with the Department of Ophthalmology at HKUMed to release results from the largest community glaucoma-screening project ever done in Hong Kong. The results were a wake-up call, not just for everyone over 50, but for everyone who loves someone over 50.
As we age, our bodies begin to change - gently, and gradually. But within our eyes, something more dangerous starts to happen: the risk of vision-threatening diseases rises sharply after 50.
The three biggest culprits here in Hong Kong are: cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma. Cataracts are like looking through a frosted dirty window. The world turns cloudy and dim. Thankfully, surgery can restore clear sight.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) attacks your central vision. It’s what you use to read, drive, or recognize a loved one’s face. It may not cause total blindness, but it steals your quality of life.
And then, there’s glaucoma, the silent thief of sight. It creeps in slowly, quietly damaging the optic nerve - the delicate cable that connects the eye to the brain. There’s no pain. No early symptoms. You don’t even know it’s happening… until a quarter of your vision is already gone.
Once those nerve fibers die, they’re gone forever. We can’t bring them back. All we can do is stop more from dying, curb it from getting worse, stop one from becoming blind. For years, we suspected glaucoma was widespread in Hong Kong. But we didn’t know how widespread or common it was - until now.
Over two years, Orbis and HKUMed conducted a project we called Vision Matters. We went into public housing estates, from Southern District, Kwun Tong and Taipo etc, inviting residents aged 50 and above for free, comprehensive eye exams. More than 5,800 people across our city took part.
The results were staggering. We found optic-nerve degeneration in 11.6 percent of participants, and confirmed glaucoma in 6.9 percent of them. For context, that’s higher than previous estimates across the entire Chinese population.
So, what’s going on? Is Hong Kong somehow “sicker”? Not necessarily. In truth, the difference lies in the technology. We were only able to identify these occurrences because of the technology we used. Our study used an AI-powered tool called ROTA to identify at-risk patients. Now, a traditional scan can tell you if your optic nerve - imagine a rope - is getting thinner. But ROTA goes deeper. It shows whether the threads within that rope are beginning to fray. This means it can catch glaucoma damage far earlier, often before patients notice a single symptom.
Currently, if referred to a specialist out-patient clinic, the wait time can be as long as 117 weeks. That is over two years. For glaucoma, two years of waiting means two years of irreversible vision damage.
Here’s how AI integration changes a lot of everything. Because when a doctor spots even the smallest hint of trouble, AI can help flag high-risk patients faster, triage them sooner, push them to the front of the list and make sure they see a specialist in time.
It won’t erase the two-year waiting list overnight, but it could save sight before it’s too late.
Our AI-powered diagnostic system will soon be deployed in Hong Kong West and Kowloon East clusters. And that’s what Orbis does best: bridging innovation and humanity. Around the world, our team ensures that innovation travels faster than distance. The fight against blindness is no longer just about scalpels and predictions. It’s about data and predictions. It’s about catching the thief before it steals your sight.
Through Cybersight AI, a groundbreaking Orbis diagnostic platform, specialist-level eye screening can be “air-dropped” into even the most remote villages. Imagine this: a local nurse in a rural community takes a photo of a patient’s retina. Within seconds, the AI detects early signs of blinding diseases and alerts doctors miles away. That speed and that precision can be the difference between permanent vision loss and a lifetime of sight.
But here’s the truth: technology alone isn’t the hero.
People are. AI is just a tool - one that amplifies the reach of doctors and empowers local health workers. It filters out routine cases, so specialists can focus on the most urgent, life-changing ones.
Yet, even the smartest technology can’t succeed without trust. In Ethiopia, for example, Orbis trains local women as community eye-care workers - women their neighbours already know and trust. In Vietnam, we adapt our workflow to match local customs and patient habits, because technology must fit people, not the other way around.
And through every project, from Hong Kong’s urban neighbourhoods to the world’s most remote corners, one message shines through:
Technology guards vision; trust connects communities.
Together, they build a bridge - from innovation to impact, from city to village, from research to real lives. And that bridge is how Orbis makes sure no one, anywhere in the world, is left in the dark.
We live in a city of dazzling lights. Let's make sure we can all see them, clearly and safely, for years to come.
Good morning.I’m here today to discuss adolescent’s mental health in HK, specifically, some patterns I’ve noticed lately in my own practice working with young people.
Since we’re coming up to the exam periods, it’s understandably a stressful period for many as these exams may be a key determinant factor for how their future may pan out. Indeed, I have noticed an increase in referrals in recent weeks for many different reasons, including anxiety, low mood, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, suicidal ideations, personality difficulties, self harm, people refusing to go to school, etc. Although I have just listed a plethora of different mental health difficulties. There is a consistent theme that I’ve noticed, that is underlying all of the issues- and that is ‘perfectionism’.
What I mean by ‘perfectionism’ is the tendency to set excessively high expectations for oneself. While this can be seen as a positive trait as it may help increase motivation or achieve goals, it can actually have the opposite effect when it becomes excessive. I’d like to point out the difference between ‘perfectionism’ and ‘striving for excellence’. When we strive for excellence, we’re focused on growth, development and improvement, we set realistic and achievable goals for ourselves, and we perceive setbacks as opportunities for growth. Perfectionism, on the other hand, is often driven by fear, especially fear of failure and the need for external validation. Similar to my observations, a CUHK study that was published in 2022, examining secondary school students in HK found that perfectionism, and social-oriented achievement motivation (i.e. a desire to gain social approval from significant others), were the key dominant drivers of academic stress in students in HK. This demonstrates the tendency for HK students to evaluate their success/ failures against approval received by others.
Why does this happen? If we start from understanding our internal factors (i.e. internal experiences such as thoughts, feelings, personality traits), some individuals may have developed less helpful thinking styles such as ‘all or nothing thinking’. For instance, they may think “I didn’t do well in one test, this means I’ll fail in all future exams”. They may have low self-esteem or have become self-critical, which would increase the chances of experiencing low mood or anxiety. But if we zoom out a little, there are also many external factors that may contribute to the development of perfectionism, such as family pressure/ expectations, having perfectionistic parents who are high achievers, social media, societal pressures or comparisons, leading to adolescents striving for the perfect appearance, life, grades, friends, materialistic possessions, you name it. Just as an example, according to a study done in 2024 by researchers from CUHK that evaluated factors associated with mental health among children in HK. They found that students who had parents with high parental expectations were at high risks of experiencing psychological distress among primary and secondary school students. Additionally, research from HKU (2023) linked excessive social media use to higher rates of anxiety and poor self-esteem in students.
So what can we do to help? From a professional level, early interventions and prevention work is essential to improve adolescent’s mental health. It is important to normalise help seeking behaviours, and to improve access to psychological therapies. For instance, speaking to school counsellors or accessing free of charge, low intensity interventions such as iACT programme provided by Mind HK is a great option for students with mild to moderate mental health difficulties to alleviate any psychological distress using an acceptance commitment therapy framework.
On a societal level, it is important to help students develop resilience and reduce mental health stigma through school or public awareness. For instance, we are currently working in collaboration with Hong Kong Jockey Club on the LevelMind project, which is a three year project that aims to improve students’ mental wellbeing in up to 130 local schools, by supporting students to develop mental wellness activities within schools, and by launching city wide events and campaigns. The idea is to encourage youth to care for themselves and others.
From a parents’ perspective, it would be beneficial to create a safe space for open communication by being validating, encouraging, compassionate and non-judgmental, and to encourage them to strive for more while embracing the imperfections. This can help your children set more realistic expectations for themselves and become more self-compassionate.
On that note, I’d like to dedicate this song called ‘Youth’ by Glass Animals to you. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that our young people thrive and not just survive! Thank you for listening.
