Hong Kong, China, Feb. 8, 2026 (Lusa) - The GX Foundation has been supporting students from Timor-Leste to undertake medical internships in Hong Kong and Macao, the president of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) said on Sunday.
Leung Chun-ying explained that GX, based in Hong Kong, has been providing financial support to enable medical students from the National University of Timor Lorosa'e to travel to one of the two Chinese regions.
In an interview with Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK, the former leader of the territory's government said the foundation had expanded its work to ten countries on four continents, offering eight different types of assistance.
Leung said GX had signed agreements with three local higher education institutions: the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University and the Polytechnic University.
The goal, explained the former chief of the regional government, is to help students participate in humanitarian work so that they can learn "benevolence" in Hong Kong and "compassion" abroad.
Leung argued that, in the face of major changes in the international landscape, China needs not only to consolidate existing friendships with other countries, but also to make new ones.
Hong Kong has many diplomatic opportunities to be explored, especially in the areas of culture, arts, sports and education, added the vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
In October 2024, GX executive director Emily Chan Ying-yang told Lusa that the foundation wanted to apply in other countries, starting with Honduras, a project that reversed the rapid growth of dengue fever in Timor-Leste.
Between January and July, GX installed more than 1,670 mosquito lamps and distributed nearly 30,000 adhesive tapes to catch insects, nearly 18,000 rapid dengue detection tests and about 500 mosquito nets in the 14 local authorities of Timor-Leste.
Emily Chan said she was "very proud" of the success of the project in Timor-Leste, the first of its kind for a foundation, created in 2018, which until 2024 was mainly dedicated to cataract surgery.
Emily Chan pointed out that, according to official data from the Timorese ministry of health, one of GX's partners, the number of dengue cases fell by 10% in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period in the year before.
In comparison, the prevalence of this mosquito-borne disease has more than doubled in Southeast Asia, she said.
In the first half of 2024, the number of cases in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, fell by 46%.
The success of the project led the Government of Timor-Leste to extend the programme until 2026. During these two years, GX plans to install 2,600 mosquito lamps and distribute 85,000 rapid tests, 80,000 adhesive tapes and 800 mosquito nets.
VQ/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
