Health club: The Advisory Committee on the Centre for Health Protection holds its first meeting.

Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection came a step closer to development today after its Advisory Committee met for the first time.

Members discussed the centre's initial framework, and reviewed the experience of overseas agencies with infectious disease control and prevention functions.

They looked at agencies from 10 countries dealing with infectious disease prevention and control, including Singapore, Australia, Canada, the UK and US, and the Mainland.

The committee found that almost all the bodies were government agencies or government-owned entities. Nine were funded by government appropriation.

On the centre's initial structural framework, the committee exchanged views on five major areas of work. They were:

* surveillance and epidemiology;

* emergency response;

* prevention and control;

* professional development; and,

* research and laboratory services.

The Government has proposed to initially establish the centre within the administration because many of its core functions, like collecting sensitive patient data, requiring healthcare institutions to comply with directives, and international liaison, cannot be performed effectively by outside entities.

It says the centre should tap the expertise of well-recognised disease control agencies and universities through secondment or a joint-appointment system, subject to detailed arrangements agreeable to all parties concerned.

Speaking on the centre's work, Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong said the Government is actively following up on the SARS Expert Committee's recommendation to set up the centre.

"This new public health infrastructure will not only consolidate existing disease control strategies but also meet new challenges posed by the increasingly heavy human and trade movement between Hong Kong and the Mainland, and also with the rest of the world," he said.