A Role for the ROC (Taiwan) in the World Health Organization

Created by the Government Information Office in Taiwan:

ROC (Taiwan): The WHO’s Missing Piece

Since the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948, the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan had participated in WHO’s programs and activities for 24 years as a full member, and made great contributions to the fulfillment of the organization’s objectives.

In 1972, in the wake of the admission of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the United Nations, the ROC (Taiwan) was forced to depart from the WHO. Since then, Taiwan’s health officials and medical professionals have been deprived of the right to take part in WHO-sponsored forums and workshops on the latest technologies in the diagnosis, monitoring and control of diseases.

Taiwan’s health authorities have also been denied the right to maintain contact and coordination with the WHO, even in emergencies involving the containment and cure of existing or newly emerging communicable diseases.

Furthermore, the exclusion of Taiwan from the WHO has impeded its participation in the work of such institutions as the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, a key organization whose mandate is to protect the health of consumers and promote harmonization of all food standards.

Good Health is a Basic Right for Everybody

The objective of the WHO is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is, as stipulated in the WHO Constitution, one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.

To achieve these goals, it is critical to make sure the WHO can draw on the collective and concerted efforts of all possible participants from the global community. However, it is regrettable that some WHO members oppose Taiwan’s participation in the Organization as an observer. When the world is embracing the challenges of globalization, and the WHO is dedicating its effort to improving global health, the issue of the integrating Taiwan into the WHO system merits serious consideration.

Taiwan’s Achievements in Healthcare

Beginning in the early 1960s, the ROC on Taiwan gradually emerged from poverty and became one of the largest trading countries in the world. Enormous quantities of goods are dispatched in and out of the island on a daily basis. In addition, Taiwan has made great achievements in public health, due in part to the assistance received from the WHO between 1948 and 1972.

Now, Taiwan enjoys one of the highest levels of life expectancy in Asia. Its maternal and infant mortality rates are comparable to those of developed countries; it has also eradicated infectious diseases such as plague, smallpox, rabies and malaria. No new poliomyelitis cases have been reported since 1983, and the disease was officially declared eradicated in 2000.

Taiwan is also the first country in the world to provide children with free hepatitis B vaccinations and it moved quickly to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, establishing a very effective nationwide HIV/AIDS monitoring and control system in the early 80s.

In addition to these advances in disease control, Taiwan’s public health sector was revolutionized in 1995 with the establishment of a universal health insurance system, the first in Asia, ensuring equal access to care for the entire population. Total expenditure on health per capita in Taiwan is now approaching developed country level.

Taiwan’s Medical and Humanitarian Aid around the World

Once a recipient of foreign aid and assistance itself, Taiwan has in recent years actively extended medical and humanitarian aid to other countries. Numerous medical teams have been sent to Africa. In early 2001 Taiwan donated 5 million condoms to the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in African continent.

Soon after the devastating earthquake that struck El Salvador on January 13, 2001, Taiwan dispatched its search and rescue teams and relief materials across the Pacific to the affected areas.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Taiwan, notably the Tzu-Chi Foundation and the Taiwan Roots Medical Peace Corps, have also responded to the appeals for emergency relief from countries where natural disasters or armed conflicts jeopardized public health system, such as Ethiopia, Rwanda, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Macedonia.

Vectors of Disease Recognize No Boundaries

In a world characterized by frequent direct interactions among people of different countries, communicable disease prevention and control depends upon effective disease surveillance networks on a global scale, and no single country should be excluded from such networks. As the Executive Board of the WHO concluded at its 107th session in January 2001:

“The globalization of infectious diseases is such that an outbreak in one country is potentially a concern for the whole world. The need for international cooperation on epidemic alert and response is greater today than ever before due to increased population movements, growth in international trade and biological products, changes in methods of food processing, social and environmental changes.” (WHO Press Release, Geneva, January 23, 2001.)

We all hope to successfully contain the global public health threat of emerging infectious diseases, epidemics and drug-resistant infectious agents. We also all hope to be part of the global outbreak alert and response network that is now being set up.

Taiwan is located at the juncture of important maritime routes between Northeast and Southeast Asia and registered 7.32 million outbound travelers and 2.62 million inbound visitors in 2000. Up to the end of December 2000, 326,515 migrant workers from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam were in Taiwan. Successful disease control relies heavily on information exchange and joint efforts among all related countries. Taiwan’s absence from the WHO has become a missing link in the global framework of health and medical care.

What Taiwan Can Do to Help Improve Global Health

Taiwan has an active pharmaceutical industry. Its scientists are exploring new drugs for cancer and HIV/AIDS, drawing partly on scientific study of alternative medicine. It is hoped that major pharmaceutical breakthrough can lead to a mass production of these new drugs and make them more affordable to the developing countries.

In addition, Taiwan is willing to share with the world its experience in combating and eradicating epidemic, endemic and other communicable diseases, some still rampant in several regions. Much more can be contributed by medical and public health professionals in Taiwan if they are not excluded from the activities of the 218 collaborating centers of the WHO in the Western Pacific region.

In the past few years, both the government and NGOs in Taiwan have been working with international organizations, such as Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF), Médicins du Monde (MDM), CARE, World Vision and International Council of Nurses (ICN), in the field of international medical assistance and humanitarian relief as well as the promotion of high quality health care. Of course, it would be more effective if Taiwan’s medical and human resources can be integrated into the WHO system.

Dare to Care: Grant the ROC (Taiwan) Observer Status

Today Taiwan has made great strides in achieving good health for its own 23 million citizens, and it is making meaningful contributions to help others reach that goal. At the same time, as a major international trade and transportation hub, Taiwan is intimately bound up in the web of disease diffusion.

For both reasons, the goal of “health for all” can only be realized if the WHO does not exclude Taiwan. On the occasion of this year’s World Health Assembly, we are appealing to the world to support our observership in the WHO. This would allow us the opportunity to begin to participate actively in the Organization’s activities and programs. The WHO has already welcomed several non-UN members to be its members or observers. Taiwan deserves no less!