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Oscar Liu

A project designed to teach elderly residents how to protect themselves during extreme heat has improved their health and reduced medical emergencies, according to researchers.
Results from the first two years of the three-year “Beat the Heat” project, released by the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Thursday, showed that tailored home interventions led to a 132 per cent increase in knowledge among older residents regarding heat-related health risks, alongside a 37 per cent reduction in related illnesses.
“In a city where summers are getting hotter, it is not just the temperature that matters, it is whether an older adult has the physical reserves to cope,” said Professor Jean Woo, director of the university’s Jockey Club Institute of Ageing, which is leading the project.
Funded by the club’s charities trust, researchers tracked the health of more than 1,500 residents with an average age of 77 living across Kwun Tong and Yau Tsim Mong – two districts where high population and building density can create an “urban heat island” effect.

Staff members from the Christian Family Service Centre and the Hong Kong Red Cross created vulnerability profiles of the participants using seven metrics: frailty, medication use, living arrangements, whether they lived alone, ability to go out independently, financial situation and age.
Those who met one to three criteria were classified as medium risk, while those meeting four to seven were flagged as high risk.
The high-risk group received three home visit services from the community organisations. During the visits, teams assessed the home environment and taught the residents heat-prevention strategies.
In Yau Tsim Mong, for example, the Hong Kong Red Cross deployed registered nurses and social workers to carry out the checks, while helping participants to declutter and make other changes to their homes, including installing air conditioners.
The project also provided maps that showed where the residents could go to cool down, partnering with elderly-friendly facilities and restaurants equipped with air conditioners in the neighbourhood for those in need.

The results indicated an 85 per cent improvement in participants’ reported overall quality of life, an 84 per cent increase in them feeling cooler at home, an 82 per cent rise in emotional well-being and an 18 per cent reduction in unplanned medical consultations.
The findings come as rising global temperatures and prolonged summer heatwaves increasingly threaten the city’s frail, low-income elderly residents, particularly those living in poorly ventilated subdivided flats.
Hong Kong logged 53 very hot days of 33 degrees Celsius or above in 2025, up from 52 the previous year, while hot nights where temperatures dropped no lower than 28 degrees rose from 50 to 54 over the same period.
Wong Yuk-chung, 71, a participant who has been living alone in a Yau Tsim Mong subdivided flat for a decade, said the project helped him better understand how hot weather affected his well-being.
“During summer, the indoor temperature stays at 36 degrees at night. I seldom turn on lights at night as it will only make it hotter,” he said.
Wong added that his living conditions had improved after the NGO workers helped him to declutter his home and install a fan and an air conditioner, as well as an LED light.
Linda Chan, 71, who lives by herself in an old Kwun Tong public housing flat, said she was taught not to rely solely on how she physically felt to assess heat risk.
“I now have a thermometer and have learned about real risks and prevention measures,” she said. “My mindset has changed too. I used to be reluctant to turn on the air conditioner to save money. But now I know that seeing a doctor when I feel ill due to the heat may cost me more.”


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The project findings come as rising global temperatures and prolonged summer heatwaves increasingly threaten Hong Kong’s frail, low-income elderly residents. Photo: Karma Lo

Project researchers and participants reveal the results on Thursday. Photo: Oscar Liu

Elderly people exercise in Victoria Park. Hong Kong logged 53 very hot days of 33 degrees Celsius or above in 2025, up from 52 the previous year. Photo: Karma Lo

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News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Nurses and social workers visited older residents living in poorer districts to teach them ways to stay cool and avoid health risks tied to heat


Nurses and social workers visited older residents living in poorer districts to teach them ways to stay cool and avoid health risks tied to heat.


Hong Kong weather

Wong Yuk-man

University heat project cuts medical emergencies for Hong Kong’s vulnerable elderly

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Nurses and social workers visited older residents living in poorer districts to teach them ways to stay cool and avoid health risks tied to heat

Nurses and social workers visited older residents living in poorer districts to teach them ways to stay cool and avoid health risks tied to heat