Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said his ministry has not received an invitation to attend the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) from May 27 to June 1, but Taiwan’s delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, would be led by the new health minister, who is to take office on May 20.
Before reporting on prevention measures for the sexual exploitation of children and young people at a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday morning, reporters asked Hsueh about this year’s WHA.
“We haven’t received an invitation yet,” Hsueh said. “As it [the WHA] will begin on May 27, which is after Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) takes office, the new minister will presumably lead the delegation to attend it.”
Photo: CNA
Chiu, a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator and an honorary professor at National Taiwan University Hospital, was named the next health minister on Friday last week.
Due to opposition from China, Taiwan has not been invited to the WHA since 2017, after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) came to office in May 2016.
However, the health minister has every year led a delegation to meet health officials from other countries on the sidelines of the WHA.
Meanwhile, The Diplomat on Tuesday published an op-ed by Hsueh titled “Taiwan Is Indispensable in Preparing for Future Pandemics.”
In the article, Hsueh said the COVID-19 pandemic showed that the global health governance framework is not effective in responding to global health threats, and as the WHO and many countries are reviewing their response strategies, revisions to the International Health Regulations (2005) and a new pandemic agreement have been proposed, which might be approved at the WHA.
However, Taiwan is not a WHO member state and cannot directly influence the global body’s decisions, but it is nonetheless greatly concerned about the documents and eager to contribute by sharing pandemic management insights and learning from international practices, he said.
Taiwan was the first to identify the COVID-19 risk and promptly executed adaptive measures, Hsueh said.
Taiwan also “proactively shared vital information with global partners and garnered public trust through commitment to openness,” he said, adding that it would refine the approaches to address future pandemics.
“We strongly endorse the passage and implementation of amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) and the pandemic agreement. We call on the WHO to include Taiwan as a signatory to these documents,” Hsueh said.
That would enable the nation to collaborate on monitoring new virus strains, reporting and exchanging pathogen diagnosis data, and sharing novel vaccine and antiviral research or clinical trial results, strengthening collective global action against pandemics, he said.
“We urge the WHO to support Taiwan’s inclusion in overseeing global health.” Hsueh said. “Taiwan seeks to cooperate with the WHO to remedy geographic gaps in global health security and to construct a comprehensive global health framework.”
The nation has worked hard to attain universal health coverage, and consistently improving the quality of its healthcare and the health of all individuals, in line with WHO recommendations, he said, adding that Taiwan is working to share its experiences and expertise with the international community.
Citing examples of Taiwan’s contributions toward realizing the right to health in the Caribbean, Haiti, Kenya, Ukraine and South Pacific island nations, and providing humanitarian assistance to victims of natural disasters in Indonesia, Japan, Hawaii, Turkey and Philippines, Hsueh said: “Taiwan remains a steadfast partner in defending the right to health of all people everywhere.”
“Taiwan believes that health is a human right. Yet the rights of Taiwan’s 23 million people are disregarded by the WHO for political reasons,” he said. “We urge the WHO and all relevant parties to recognize Taiwan’s considerable contributions to global public health and the human right to health.”
Taiwan should be included in the WHA and all WHO meetings, activities and mechanisms, particularly those concerned with the WHO pandemic agreement, he said.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its