President Tsai Ing-wen stressed the importance of enhanced collaboration and international support in the fields of global disease control and medical aid during her opening address Oct. 23 at the Global Health Forum in Taiwan.
Held annually in Taipei since 2005, the two-day event addressed issues such as aging societies, chronic diseases and equitable access to health care services. This year’s forum highlights Taiwan’s efforts to support the U.N.’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the organization’s General Assembly last year and designed to end poverty, protect the environment and secure peace and prosperity around the world.
In line with the forum’s theme, “Toward 2030: A Global Health Agenda,” Tsai laid out several of the government’s objectives, including increasing international medical collaboration and improving Taiwan’s National Health Insurance program.
“One can imagine that by 2030 there will be an increase in the cross-border movement of people and goods. Disease control will become an even greater challenge for many countries,” Tsai said. “Therefore, every nation has a responsibility to share information and jointly fight communicable diseases.”
According to the president, if Taiwan is excluded from global health efforts, the world would be missing a vital “puzzle piece” in its disease control efforts.
The country has made many contributions to international medical initiatives and hopes to continue assisting other countries in training medical professionals, Tsai said, giving the example of efforts under her administration’s New Southbound Policy that encourage Southeast Asian students to study medicine in Taiwan institutes.
Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics suggest that 20 percent of the population will be aged 65 years or older by 2025, making Taiwan a super-aged country. Tsai pointed out that trial operations will begin next month on the government’s Long-term Care Plan 2.0, which will utilize public and private resources to provide accessible and affordable long-term health care services.
Jointly organized by the MOHW and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this year’s edition brought together 50 international health professionals from over 30 countries as well as around 900 Taiwan experts and officials. Health officials from several Republic of China (Taiwan) allies, including El Salvador, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Swaziland, also attended the forum. (KWS-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw