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DOH to focus more on prevention

The Department of Health (DOH) plans to promote public health this year with initiatives including a new emerging infectious disease department at the Center for Disease Control, new research facilities at the National Health Research Institute, and the creation of food-and-drug inspection police.

In addition, the department also said yesterday that Taiwan's compliance with the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was the likely theme of the nation's bid for WHO membership this year.

"The SARS experience last year made it clear that investing in health is more efficient than just providing disease treatment. Having good health prevents disease," said DOH director-general Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁).

Chen pointed out that because of fever surveillance mechanisms, as well as the widespread sanitation information that resulted from combating the SARS outbreak, the number of dengue fever cases has declined to 86 this past year, down from 5,336 the previous year.

Enterovirus cases were also down to 139 cases last year from the previous year's 315 cases.

The National Research Institute will be the key next year in putting prevention before treatment with new research facilities and a center for the development of appropriate health policies.

"We want our health policies to be evidence-based, so in the future we will establish a center specifically for the purpose of developing health policies. It will serve as a think tank for the DOH," said Wu Cheng-wen (吳成文), head of the National Health Research Institute.

The institute will next year also see the establishment of the first national cancer research center.

A research center devoted to senior citizen health and medicine will also be headed up next year by former National Taiwan University Hospital director Tai Tung-yuan (戴東原).

A center for psychiatric and infectious diseases research will also be established next year.

"In the future, we will need the capability of developing our own vaccines," said Wu, who expressed regret that NT$16 million had been cut from its budget for research in this area.

"It's very important to be able to make our own vaccines in the event of a global emergency," Chen added.

Meanwhile, the CDC is set to create a new department focusing specifically on dealing with emerging infectious diseases.

"We will be reorganizing the center to establish this new department. Working with agricultural officials in increasing surveillance will be key [to this effort]," said CDC Deputy Director Shih Wen-yi (施文儀).

Another new addition to the department will be food and drug inspection police.

"In investigating food, cosmetics, drugs, etc, we sometimes met with violence. We will work with the National Police Administration on this," said deputy director general of the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs Yu Wan-nan (余萬能).

In addition, the Bureau of National Health Insurance will also be covering breast cancer screening tests beginning next year.
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