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Ma urges participation in WHO

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) appealed to the international community yesterday for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, vowing to be a constructive voice in the area of global health.

“If we are given the opportunity to join the WHO, we will not only benefit from the services and expertise of the world organization as a recipient country, but we can also become a donor country by providing quality medical service and medical education to the members of the WHO,” Ma said at the opening of the 2008 Global Forum for Health Leaders in Taipei.

He said that despite political constraints on the international stage, Taiwan had made efforts to implement the WHO’s ideals, providing assistance to countries in need and collaborating with the international community.

For instance, Taiwan initiated the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation health group and assisted the organization in establishing electronic health records for travelers, Ma said.

The Taiwan International Health Action was established in 2006 to provide emergency humanitarian medical assistance to other countries, he said.

The program was active in providing aid to flood disaster areas in Ecuador in South America and also to Sichuan, China, following last May’s earthquake, he said.

Saying these efforts were all in line with UN policy, and particularly with WHO policy, Ma promised that Taiwan would continue to play a constructive role in the area of international healthcare, providing services wherever it is able to do so.

“Illness and diseases are beyond borders. Compassion and humanity transcend language and race,” he said. “So we always consider our participation in the WHO and its related events, not a political issue, but a professional and human issue.”

Ma said that domestically, government and non-governmental organizations continued to work hard to improve local healthcare services, citing Taiwan’s National Health Insurance and medical education as examples.

Titled Health and Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities, the two-day forum was attended by health officials and experts from more than 30 countries and will focus on evidence-based health policy, global trends om healthcare quality and capacity-building for disease control.
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