The Health Bureau’s Student Health Programme covered 97 school sections across Macau (including the Hou Kong Middle School Affiliated Hengqin School) for the 2025/2026 academic year, reaching a total of 52,025 students.
The actual number of participants reached 49,078 (94.3 percent), SSM Community Healthcare Services Department Chief Wong In announced in a press conference yesterday.
The press conference for the programme was held at the SSM Public Health Emergency Personnel Residence Hall on Guia Hill.
Targeting kindergarten and primary school students, the programme encompassed health screenings such as vision, hearing, and spinal examinations, as well as body weight assessments and oral check-ups, according to the press conference.
Wong noted that the overweight rate among local students stands at 13.5 percent. Furthermore, surveys revealed that 13.3 percent of obese students exhibit acanthosis nigricans*, which is a sign of insulin resistance and an early warning signal for high-risk type 2 diabetes.
Regarding vision status, the myopia rate** among participating students reached 29.1 percent (14,265 students), while astigmatism*** and hypermetropia**** rates stood at 13.5 percent (6,611 students) and 2.8 percent (1,382 students), respectively, Wong said, adding that among 37,090 students who did not wear glasses, examinations found a refractive error***** rate of 22.6 percent (8,385 students).
Wong urged parents to seek professional ophthalmological or optometric evaluations for their children promptly upon receiving screening results and to follow medical advice for vision correction or myopia control measures.
For hearing screenings, tuning-fork tests were conducted for 3,810 kindergarten first-year students, yielding an initial abnormality rate of 0.16 percent (6 children). Pure-tone audiometry initial screenings were administered to 5,046 kindergarten third-year students, with an initial abnormality rate of 1.0 percent (48 children), Wong said.
Meanwhile, primary grade two, four, and six students were screened via online computerised audiometry, with 17,849 participants resulting in an initial abnormality rate of 14.0 percent. All 2,506 students requiring hearing re-examination were scheduled for follow-up tests at health centres during the summer holidays. Among them, 1,550 attended, with 11 showing abnormal results (accounting for 0.7 percent), Wong added.
Wong pointed out that in terms of dental and spinal health, oral check-ups were provided for Primary 3 and 5 students. Among the 12,318 students examined, the suspected dental caries rate was 42.3 percent (5,214 students). Additionally, spinal examinations for Primary 5 students showed that 3.2 percent (207 out of 6,487 examined students) required further evaluation, she said.
Wong added that all of these abnormal cases have been fully referred to specialists for follow-up.
The Health Bureau expects that the new edition of the programme will officially start in schools in October, Wong said, adding that the bureau will optimise the parent notification mechanism through the “Macao One Account” system in mid-September.
* Acanthosis nigricans is a skin condition that causes dark, thick, velvety patches to form in body folds and creases. - Gemini
**Myopia (near-sightedness) makes far-away objects look blurry because light focuses in front of the retina. - Gemini
*** Astigmatism: Causes blurred or distorted vision at all distances due to an uneven or irregular shape of the cornea or lens. - Gemini
**** Hyperopia (farsightedness): Makes nearby objects look blurry because light focuses behind the retina. - Gemini
***** Refractive error is a common eye disorder where the shape of the eye prevents light from focusing correctly on the retina, leading to blurry vision. - Gemini
Health Bureau (SSM) Community Healthcare Services Department Chief Wong In (centre) and other representatives look on during yesterday’s press conference about the ‘Student Health Programme’ at its Public Health Emergency Personnel Residence Hall on Guia Hill. – Photo: Ida Cheong
