The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has repeatedly prophesied frightening scenarios of an avian influenza epidemic among humans. In response, both President Chen Shui-bian (
In the UK, health agencies are providing doctors with a handbook teaching them how to distinguish bird flu cases and control epidemics. They have not spent a massive amount of money to build factories to produce vaccines or purchased "Tamiflu" as an antiviral drug.
For Taiwan, apart from learning from the British measure, it is necessary to improve the quality of doctors' diagnostic abilities. More importantly, a system to recruit excellent staff at reasonable pay to do the CDC's prevention work needs to be established.
Some of the huge budget for prevention work should also be reallocated to improve the finances of the National Health Insurance (NHI) program.
During her term, former minister of the Department of Health Chang Po-ya (
There are three other kinds of antiviral drugs similar to Tamiflu. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) believes that all of them can only shorten the course of conventional flu by about a day and a half, and none are capable of reducing the rate of complications arising from flu or cutting death rates. No antiviral drug can cure bird flu at this time, and no country has approved using Tamiflu to treat this disease. So we cannot expect to reduce the number of deaths by spending money to purchase or produce Tamiflu. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has not suggested that countries should purchase and store the drug.
According to WHO statistics, between Dec. 26, 2003 and Aug. 5 this year, 112 people in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia contracted bird flu, and 57 of them died. The high death rate proves that Tamiflu is ineffective.
When the effectiveness of the government's prevention work is reviewed in 2008, we are likely to be reminded of events this year, when the premier -- embarrassingly misled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs -- was unable to keep his promise to supply tap water to Taoyuan in a timely manner.
If the president and the premier do not stop this bird-flu proposal before it is too late, it will become a hot issue for the 2008 presidential campaign.
Hsieh Yen-yau is a retired professor in the College of Medicine at National Taiwan University.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, people have been asking if Taiwan is the next Ukraine. At a G7 meeting of national leaders in January, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that Taiwan “could be the next Ukraine” if Chinese aggression is not checked. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that if Russia is not defeated, then “today, it’s Ukraine, tomorrow it can be Taiwan.” China does not like this rhetoric. Its diplomats ask people to stop saying “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow.” However, the rhetoric and stated ambition of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Taiwan shows strong parallels with