US report indicates membership in WHO not likely in short term

The CDC also lent a hand during the Sept. 21 earthquake.

However, without participation in the WHO, Taiwan's ability to control epidemics is limited.

An epidemic in 1998 heightened the call for Taiwan's inclusion in the WHO, when an outbreak of enterovirus-71 -- a stomach virus affecting mostly young children -- killed over 50 before it was brought under control.