In an effort to help rein in the AIDS epidemic in African ally Malawi, Taiwan has offered free anti-retroviral therapy to benefit over 1200 Malawians living with HIV to date, health officials said yesterday.
Since 1998, Taiwan has helped set up a hospital in Mazuzu, the main stopover town in the north of the African country of 12 million people. Last June, the Department of Health (DOH) also established a clinic in the Mazuzu Central Hospital and started delivering free anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to Malawians afflicted by HIV.
"Taiwan has been able to yield some fruit in its fight against AIDS in Malawi," said director-general of the DOH's bureau of international cooperation, Peter Chang (
"Our clinic service has helped at least 1,200 Malawians by the end of January. The number of patients coming to our clinic increases steadily by 200 every month," Chang said.
Health officials hoped that these anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) can block the virus's ability to replicate and thereby delay the onset of AIDS.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international civil groups also offered free ARVs to the AIDS-plagued country since 2001, most Malawians' access to free ARV therapy is still limited.
"Because only certain hospitals are allowed to supply ARVs, the treatment program failed to reach out to HIV sufferers," Chang said.
Taiwan's "rainbow" clinic service in Mzuzu Central Hospital, however, has been able to spread its outreach. It is partly because Taiwan has introduced a fingerprint identification system to record patients' medical history and to keep track of the patients.
"In a country where citizens have no ID cards, it is difficult to identify patients and keep records of their medical history. This is why ARG therapy offered by WHO sometimes cannot be distributed effectively," Chang said.
With the fingerprint identification system, Taiwanese medical staff in Mzuzu Central Hospital can easily identify patients and monitor the dosage of anti-retroviral.
"The model of management we've used has won approval in Malawi. There is a possibility that the model will be promoted throughout the country," Chang said.
Taiwan has trained 21 medical professionals to conduct HIV blood tests in Malawi over the past two years. In addition, the medical mission has introduced a blood-bank program, midwife training and AIDS-related medical services free of charge. All of these efforts are helping to reduce Malawi's blood shortage and reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate.
In Malawi, the AIDS scourge has cut life expectancy to 36, and an estimated 900,000 people are infected with HIV. According to the DOH, 50,000 to 70,000 people die each year from AIDS-related ailments. Every year, about 60,000 AIDS-afflicted children become orphaned in Malawi.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai