HONG KONG, April 2 (Xinhua) -- A Hong Kong charity body organized a "Dress Blue Day" campaign on Monday, calling on people to dress in blue to symbolise "showing support to individuals with autism."

The campaign, organized by Autism Partnership Foundation (APF), was meant to echo the "World Autism Awareness Day", designated by the United Nations on April 2 every year to raise public awareness of the disease.

At the event where all guests dressed blue, two mothers talked about challenges they met in taking care of their children suffering from autism, calling for more public understanding of autism as well as support for children with autism and their families.

Tsui Ying-wai, under secretary of labor and welfare of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said at the event that the government, non-government organizations, commercial sectors and communities should join hands in supporting people with autism.

He encouraged parents to arrange suitable treatments for their children in order to catch their learning golden period. He also urged the public to accept and have more understanding about autism.

Warning that there is an increasing prevalence of autism in Hong Kong children, APF said it has been providing intensive Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) treatments to underprivileged children with autism since 2016, and it plans to extend "Dress Blue Day" to "Autism Awareness Month" since 2019 to draw more attention of the public on supporting people with autism.