The Legislative Yuan is conducting a line-by-line review of the proposed indigenous peoples health act.
As a social worker carrying out services in indigenous communities, I can tell you that there is an overall shortage of healthcare resources in those communities. This is because the existing healthcare and medical policy is lacking an understanding of indigenous peoples’ everyday environment, as well as failing to address the different needs of indigenous people.
Ministry of the Interior data show that the average life expectancy of indigenous people in 2021 was 6.94 years shorter than the rest of the population of Taiwan. The gap is due to various factors.
For one, indigenous people have experienced misunderstandings or even discrimination from some healthcare workers due to their lifestyle and habits. More often than not, there are also conflicts in patient-physician relationships because of the language barrier, and that is where social workers need to intervene to act as a cultural interpreter and help integrate resources.
In the face of this predicament, the passing of the indigenous peoples health act should be able to assist the government in addressing the uneven distribution of healthcare resources via research on indigenous culture, and the integration of resources and social campaigns.
Only in this way can the gap between average life expectancy of indigenous people and the general population be shortened.
From the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to the White Paper on Health and Welfare Policy and the Indigenous Peoples Chapter (衛生福利政策白皮書暨原住民族專章) published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, it is high time that the government takes a step further in addressing ethnic health inequalities.
I hope legislators and the public can come together as one to support and accelerate the passing of the act, so that Taiwan can live up to its reputation of being a truly diverse and inclusive society.
Ma Chih-cheng,
Hualien County
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