An online gallery of photographs spotlighting decades of contributions by the Republic of China (Taiwan) to strengthening international health and the need for Taiwan to continue playing a vital role in the World Health Organization was launched April 26 in Taipei City by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Leave No One Behind: World Health Security Needs Taiwan, Taiwan Needs the WHO, an initiative of the MOFA and Ministry of Health and Welfare, features photographs and films separated into the categories of Building Medical Capacity, Combating Major Diseases, Humanitarian Medical Aid, Safeguarding Global Health, and Taiwan and the WHO.
According to the MOFA, Taiwan has invested over US$6 billion since 1996 in medical and humanitarian aid campaigns benefiting millions of people in more than 80 countries. These include 50-plus programs aimed at combating diseases such as Ebola, dengue fever, malaria and Zika in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the South Pacific.
Front-line examples of these Taiwan public and private sector campaigns are highlighted in the gallery. These span such areas as improvements to medical information and management systems, provision of emergency medical aid and relief to disaster-struck areas, donations of medical equipment and facilitation of medical training.
The gallery also documents Taiwan’s meaningful participation as an observer in the World Health Assembly—the decision-making body of the WHO. In 2009, after 38 years of exclusion, the country was invited by the WHO to take part as an observer in the WHA. It has since shared its extensive experience at the annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, in delivering universal health care coverage and managing outbreaks of highly contagious diseases.
According to the MOFA, as a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan is committed to taking part in the WHA and other WHO activities, mechanisms and meetings in an effort to achieve goals set out under the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, bolster global health and promote the well-being of people of all ages.
This commitment was reaffirmed by Office of the President spokesman Lin He-ming during a news conference the same day in Taipei. In addition to ensuring the health of the nation’s 23 million people, Lin said Taiwan’s participation as an observer in the WHA represents a vital link in the global disease-prevention network.
Taiwan’s meaningful and substantive contributions to international health are strongly welcomed by its partners and diplomatic allies. During an address the day before in Taipei, American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty said the U.S. looks forward to Taiwan’s ongoing participation in the WHA. (SFC-E)
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