Members of the Asia Pacific Inter-City SARS Prevention Forum yesterday signed a cooperation memorandum, agreeing to establish a Geographical Information System (GIS), an online network to communicate real-time information about SARS and other infectious diseases.
Taipei City Government Bureau of Health Director Chang Hang (張珩) reported that a total of 15 participants from the US, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan had signed the memorandum, representing cities, hospitals, and governmental as well as non-governmental organizations.
According to Chang, participants were asked to clarify the organizations and cities they represented before signing. Canada's Commissioner of Public Health, Colin D'Cunha, signed on behalf of Ontario.
Chang stated that representatives from Hong Kong's Hospital Authority and Prince of Wales Hospital had also signed the memorandum, pointing towards more transparency with regards to information on China's SARS situation.
Singapore's Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Singapore General Hospital were also represented.
Taipei Mayor Ma Yin-jeou (馬英九) signed the memorandum on behalf of the city.
"We've had this idea in mind since the early stages of the SARS outbreak. If SARS comes back now, we can handle it better the second time around," Ma said.
"Forum participants are all at the frontline of SARS prevention. At the very least, they know each other now and can easily pick up the telephone and communicate when necessary," he said.
Ma emphasized that transparency in international relations comes down to human relations.
Chang agreed, reporting that it would take at least 10 days to communicate SARS information via the World Health Organization. He stressed that the said memorandum was established because the speed of sharing information was an important factor.
According to Chang, details still need to be discussed. He explained that the potential disclosure of a patient's private information was an issue that had to be worked out, suggesting that the GIS would require only the location of infected patients.
He reported that forum participants had tentatively agreed to meet once a year.
The memorandum is a token of the recognition that it is in the mutual interest of the participants to develop a cooperative defense system. The memorandum states that participants will freely and openly exchange their experiences with SARS and other communicable diseases, alert each other of cross-border transmissions in a timely fashion and cooperate in research, training and other relevant disciplines.
The memorandum further includes an agreement to collaborate in the fight to control and eradicate not only SARS, but also dengue fever, cholera, Japanese encephalitis, malaria, meningococcal meningitis, E. coli infection, open tuberculosis, AIDS, bacillary dysentery, anthrax, influenza and other communicable diseases.
Chang said that the memorandum's vision was similar to that of an emergency operation center, an information hub that would allow efficient communication.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS