HKDSE Health Management And Social Care Practice Paper: Health Concepts, Health Promotion And Social Care Services

HKDSE Health Management and Social Care Practice Paper: Health Concepts, Health Promotion and Social Care Services

2026-11-05

HKDSE Health Management and Social Care – 12 questions – 100 marks – 75 minutes

A 12-question HKDSE Health Management and Social Care practice paper on health indicators, health promotion, disease prevention and social care planning, with full worked answers.

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Paper details　HKDSE Health Management and Social Care practice paper: 12 questions, 100 marks, 75 minutes, with worked answers on health indicators, health promotion and social services.

Part 1: Health Concepts and Health Indicators

Section A: Health measurement and indicator calculation

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	A S6 student weighs 68 kg and is 1.72 m tall. Using body mass index (BMI) = weight in kg divided by height in metres squared, calculate his BMI to two decimal places and classify him as normal, overweight or obese under the WHO Asian adult cut-offs.	BMI = 68 / 1.72 squared = 68 / 2.9584 = 22.99. Under the Asian adult cut-offs, 18.5 to 22.9 is normal, 23 to 27.4 is overweight and 28 or above is obese, so he is of normal weight. Marking points: correct formula, correct substitution and squaring, two decimal places, correct class.
2	A district has a population of 120,000. During the year there were 240 newly diagnosed cases and 1,560 patients were still alive at year end. Calculate the annual incidence rate and the prevalence rate per 100,000 population, and explain the main reason for the difference between the two figures.	Incidence rate = 240 / 120,000 x 100,000 = 200 cases; prevalence rate = 1,560 / 120,000 x 100,000 = 1300 cases. Prevalence is higher because it counts all surviving cases, old and new, while incidence counts only new cases in the year; long duration of chronic disease keeps prevalence well above incidence. Marking points: both formulas, units, correct explanation.
3	A district has 24,000 people aged 65 or above, and 96 of them died during the year. Calculate the age-specific death rate per 100,000 for this age group, and explain why age-specific death rates are preferred to crude death rates when comparing the health of elderly populations across districts.	Age-specific death rate = 96 / 24,000 x 100,000 = 400. Crude death rates are distorted by age structure: a district with more elderly people has a higher crude rate even with the same health status. Comparing by age group removes that distortion and is therefore more valid across districts. Marking points: calculation, age-structure effect, comparability.
4	Life expectancy at birth in a place is 85.2 years and healthy life expectancy is 78.6 years. Calculate the gap and explain two implications of this gap for health management and social care planning.	Gap = 85.2 minus 78.6 = 6.6 years. First implication: people spend about 6.6 years in poor health or with functional limitations, creating demand for long-term care, rehabilitation and community support. Second: planning cannot rely on longer life alone; resources must go to prevention, chronic disease management and home care so that years of disability are compressed. Marking points: calculation and two concrete planning implications.

Part 2: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Section B: Health promotion strategies and evaluation

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
5	Two health promotion programmes are costed as follows: Programme A spends 480,000 dollars serving 1,200 people; Programme B spends 720,000 dollars serving 2,400 people. Calculate the cost per person for each programme, the difference, and the total saving if the cheaper approach served all 2,400 people.	Programme A cost per person = 480,000 / 1,200 = 400 dollars; Programme B = 720,000 / 2,400 = 300 dollars; difference = 100 dollars, so B is cheaper by 100 dollars per person. Serving 2,400 people through B instead of A saves 100 x 2,400 = 240000 dollars. Marking points: both unit costs, the difference, and the total saving.
6	In a vaccine trial, 120 of 1,000 unvaccinated people and 30 of 1,000 vaccinated people developed the disease. Calculate the vaccine efficacy as a percentage, and find how many people must be vaccinated to prevent one case, rounded to a whole number.	Attack rate without vaccination = 120 / 1,000 = 12 per cent; with vaccination = 30 / 1,000 = 3 per cent. Vaccine efficacy = (12 minus 3) / 12 x 100 = 75 per cent. Absolute risk falls by 9 percentage points, so the number needed to vaccinate = 1 / 0.09 = about 11.1, that is 11 people. Marking points: both attack rates, efficacy formula, reciprocal and rounding.
7	Lung cancer incidence in a place is 180 per 100,000 among smokers and 20 per 100,000 among non-smokers. Calculate the attributable risk, the relative risk and the attributable fraction, then explain the attributable fraction to the public in one sentence.	Attributable risk = 180 minus 20 = 160 per 100,000; relative risk = 180 / 20 = 9 times; attributable fraction = (180 minus 20) / 180 x 100 = 88.9 per cent. In plain words: about 88.9 per cent of lung cancer cases among smokers can be attributed to smoking and would in theory be avoided if smoking were eliminated. Marking points: three values and an explanation tied to the avoidable share.
8	A young person weighing 70 kg does 45 minutes of an activity with a metabolic equivalent of 6. Energy used in kilocalories = MET x 3.5 x body weight in kg / 200 x minutes. Calculate the kilocalories used and convert the result into kilojoules, where 1 kilocalorie equals 4.184 kilojoules, rounded to a whole number.	Kilocalories = 6 x 3.5 x 70 / 200 x 45 = 7.35 x 45 = 330.75 kcal; kilojoules = 330.75 x 4.184 = 1383.9, rounded to 1384 kJ. Marking points: step-by-step substitution, correct units, conversion and rounding.

Part 3: Social Care and Service Planning

Section C: Care demand and manpower planning

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
9	Population structure of a place: 780,000 aged 0 to 14, 1,320,000 aged 65 or above, and 5,100,000 aged 15 to 64. Calculate the total dependency ratio, the child dependency ratio and the old-age dependency ratio, and state which one puts more pressure on social care services.	Total dependency ratio = (780,000 + 1,320,000) / 5,100,000 x 100 = 41.2 per cent; child dependency ratio = 15.3 per cent; old-age dependency ratio = 25.9 per cent. The old-age ratio is far higher, and older people need much more health care, long-term care and residential service than children, so it puts more pressure on social care. Marking points: three ratios, correct comparison, service-demand reasoning.
10	A place has 1,320,000 people aged 65 or above. Research shows 6.5 per cent of them need residential care, and 78,000 subsidised places are available. Calculate the number of places required, the shortfall, and the percentage of the elderly population currently covered by places.	Places required = 1,320,000 x 6.5 per cent = 85800; shortfall = 85800 minus 78,000 = 7800 places; current coverage = 78,000 / 1,320,000 x 100 = 5.9 per cent. Marking points: multiplication, difference, percentage, with credit for noting that the shortfall concentrates among frail elders.
11	A community care team has 60 staff handling 4,800 service attendances per month, that is 80 attendances per staff member. Management wants to lower the caseload to 72 attendances per staff member to improve quality. Calculate the staff establishment required, rounded up, and the number of extra staff needed.	Staff required = 4,800 / 72 = 66.67, rounded up to 67; extra staff = 67 minus 60 = 7. Marking points: division, the reason for rounding up (demand cannot be left unmet), and the difference.
12	An elderly service unit currently spends 1,000,000 dollars a year. If wages and prices rise by 3.5 per cent each year, calculate the annual cost after four years, rounded to a whole number, and the cumulative percentage increase, then state one implication for long-term service contracts.	Cost after four years = 1,000,000 x 1.035 to the fourth power = 1147523 dollars; cumulative increase = (1147523 minus 1,000,000) / 1,000,000 x 100 = 14.8 per cent. Implication: long-term service contracts need inflation adjustment clauses or annual price reviews, otherwise real purchasing power erodes; a reserve for wage growth is also needed. Marking points: compound interest, increase, concrete contract implication.

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