The Department of Health plans to protest a decision by the World Health Organization (WHO) to leave Taiwan off a list of a polio-free countries that was released in Kyoto, Japan on Sunday.
Thirty-seven countries in the western Pacific region were declared polio-free by the organization. China was also on the list, and Taiwan was included as a part of China.
"The success of polio eradication in Taiwan does not equate to China's situation," Lee Ming-liang (
The WHO said that polio had been eradicated in 37 countries, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. That led the group to declare the west Pacific region polio-free, the second region in the world since the Americas in 1994 to receive the designation.
Health officials noted yesterday that Taiwan has been polio-free since 1985, as there have been no reported cases since that year.
"But mainly for political reasons the WHO has overlooked Taiwan's accomplishment in polio eradication," Lee said.
Hsu Hsu-mei (
"But Taiwan is not a WHO member state and was excluded," Hsu said.
The Republic of China was one of the WHO's founding members and has donated funds to its worldwide polio eradication program.
"The WHO still allows political issues to distort recognition of Taiwan's achievement," members of the Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan (台灣醫界聯盟) said yesterday.
Health officials established the Taiwan Polio Eradication Certification Committee in 1996. Two years later, Tony Adams, chairman of the WHO's west Pacific regional operations, was invited to Taiwan to learn more about the eradication of polio in this country.
"The WHO de facto recognized Taiwan as polio-free, otherwise it wouldn't declare the west Pacific region as polio-free," Hsu said.
The WHO's list on Sunday did not include North Korea and Indonesia. Despite the WHO's political snubs, health department officials said yesterday that Taiwan was committed to helping the organization eradicate polio around the world by 2005.
"We've donated more than US$1 million through Rotary International to the WHO's worldwide polio eradication program last year," Hsu said. "Taiwan will donate US$10 million, divided between the government and Rotary International in Taiwan, to WHO in installments over five years."
But health officials noted that Taiwan won't be recognized on the WHO's donor list because the sponsorship was done through Rotary International. The WHO declined to accept Taiwan's donation in the name of Taiwan.
Despite the WHO's exclusion, officials say they support the organization's goal of fighting disease around the world.
"Following the WHO's goal, our next target is measles," Hsu said. "We will devote ourselves to its eradication and will show the world Taiwan's success in public health."
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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