Spenser De Li was Invited to Give a Speech in the 1st Interdisciplinary Forum on “Public Health Challenges in Contemporary China”



On May 9, 2014, the 1st Interdisciplinary Forum on “Public Health Challenges in Contemporary China” was held in BNU-HKBU United International College (UIC). The topic of this forum is to explore the solutions for public health problems such as environmental health, doctor-patient relationship, food safety, occupational health and aging of population. Spenser De Li, president of AASAR, was invited to attend the forum and give a speech.

Spenser De Li’s speech mainly focused on drugs and drug abuse problems in Macao. He indicated that as an international city with free port, the transportation network in Macao was highly developed, so some international drug traffickers made use of the convenient conditions of Macao to take it as a transfer station of cross-border drug trafficking. However, the rate of drug abuse in Macao was significantly lower than the international standard,especially in traditional drug abuse. In recently years, this phenomenon gradually changes. From 2010 to 2012, it is found in the drug control works that an increasing number of Macanese cross border to Zhuhai and are engaged in drug abuse and drug trafficking. The drug problems in Macao and Zhuhai penetrate and influence with each other, and the situation constantly deteriorates. The relationship between Macao and Zhuhai is unique. The phenomenon of Macanese’s drug-related criminal activities in Zhuhai is also relatively special in the international drug control works. Therefore, it is necessary to have an in-depth investigation of this phenomenon, and take corresponding countermeasures to prevent drug problems from spreading.

Many distinguished guests have also attended this forum: Prof. Qinghui Wu, president of UIC; Prof. Yingyao Chen, vice president of School of Public Health at Fudan University; Prof. Hengjin Dong, executive director of Health Policy and Management Research Center at School of Public Health of Zhejiang University; Dr. Lihua Pang, associate professor of Population Research Institute of Peking University; Dr. Qunying He, associate professor of Department of Sociology at Hong Kong University; Prof. Minxian He, deputy director of Department of Applied Social Sciences at City University of Hong Kong, and professors of related research fields from UIC.