Why is knowledge important? Health knowledge, or education, refers to the knowledge and understanding people have about health-related issues. It is important that people understand the causes of ill-health and recognise the extent to which they are vulnerable to, or at risk from, a health threat. In other words, knowledge is a necessary component of behaviour change, but on its own, it is not sufficient to bring about behaviour change.

Why do people behave in ways that are hazardous to their health? For a number of reasons. Approximately how many times have you actively and deliberately thought about your health in the past six months? Very few, unless you have had some prompt, such as an active illness episode as a prompt. Most people don’t think about their health until it goes wrong, is threatened or is brought to their attention. Research has shown that, even when smokers are shown the cancerous lungs of other smokers removed post mortem, the decision to stop smoking lasts only about 24-48 hours, after which the impact is not noticeable in terms of their behaviour.

Many of the things that are hazardous to health happen to be enjoyable or desired by most people. How many of you would stop eating seafood if you learned that each day 5 tons of toxic heavy metals are poured into Hong Kong’s waters , which end up in the food chain and eventually the fish you eat? Would you? For how long? See what I mean?

Most adults who smoke, in Hong Kong anyway, are aware of most of the hazards of smoking, but chose to continue smoking anyway. In other words, peoples’ goals are usually not the same as those of health professionals.