Adolescent Mental Health Policy and Services in Hong Kong: Seven Unresolved Problems Waiting for Solutions

With the economic growth of Hong Kong over the past few decades, medical services for adolescents have improved, and adolescent mortality rates are relatively lower when compared with other places, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, and Japan. Unfortunately, despite general medical advances in Hong Kong, adolescent mental health policies, services, and research face several unresolved problems, which are reflected in the articles in this Supplement. From the perspective that "there is no health without mental health," these problems are particularly noteworthy. In many countries, systematic surveillance studies on adolescent mental health issues (such as addiction, mental disorders, and learning difficulties) are conducted or commissioned by the government. Surveillance studies are important because they help the government and professionals to understand the prevalence of adolescent problems, chart the service needs, and formulate relevant prevention and intervention policies. One good example is the Monitoring the Future study conducted by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.