Hong Kong's role in global health: Public opinion of official development assistance

PLoS One. 2018 Dec 4;13(12):e0207687. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207687. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Governments in high income countries allocate funding for Official Development Assistance (ODA), and population-based surveys tend to show support for the concept of affluent nations assisting the development of poorer regions. A public opinion survey was conducted in Hong Kong to: (1) assess public support for foreign aid for social development and Hong Kong's current Disaster Relief Fund (DRF); and (2) assess how much respondents thought should be contributed to foreign aid for social development and/or DRF. Interviewers conducted a random telephone survey of Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong citizens aged 18 or above during 2017. Of the 1004 individuals surveyed, 55% (552) agreed that a portion of the government budget should be allocated to the DRF and 37% (372) disagreed. The mean and the median amount of the government budget suggested to be allocated were 5.1% and 2.4% respectively. However only 16% (164) supported the government giving foreign aid for social development, with 79% (793) not supporting, and 5% (47) undecided. The suggested portions of government budget that should be allocated for this purpose were 1.5% (mean) and 0.0% (median). The degree of support for DRF and foreign aid for social development was associated with both age (DRF P < 0.0005; foreign aid for social development P < 0.0005) and education (DRF P = 0.010; foreign aid for social development: P < 0.0005). There was little support for foreign aid for social development amongst the Hong Kong public, in contrast to similar surveys in other countries, but this could be related to the lack of a local tradition of providing ODA to foreign countries. Most respondents supported the current DRF and would like to see a greater proportion of government budget allocated.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Developing Countries / economics*
  • Disaster Planning / economics
  • Educational Status
  • Female
  • Global Health / economics*
  • Hong Kong
  • Humans
  • International Cooperation*
  • Linear Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Public Opinion*
  • Social Change
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

Funding for this study was from the Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China (http://www.pae.cuhk.edu.hk). The funding had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.