Taiwan can expand its international influence by sending more medical missions abroad, Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said yesterday at a press conference held to celebrate the launch of a book about the nation’s medical service in Africa.
Practicing medicine in less-developed countries offers many advantages, such as an increased visibility for the nation and the chance to help doctors become better caregivers, Chiu said.
While he served as the president of Taipei Medical University, Chiu launched 14 short-term medical missions abroad and, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he commissioned two long-term missions to Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe.
“Besides providing necessary treatment, we educate people on public health, do malaria prevention work and teach nursing students simple skills,” said Chi Li-hsing (祁力行), a doctor who worked in the West African country for two years.
Chi showed pictures of himself in a book titled Love at the Equator, treating patients whose deteriorating health condition resulted from a lack of medical resources, delayed diagnosis and unsanitary water supplies that contain pesticides and bacteria.
“Our vocation enables us to achieve many things,” Chi said, recommending the book to young doctors and fellow physicians.
The book symbolizes the strong bond of brotherhood between Taiwan and Sao Tome and Principe, said Jorge Amado, the country’s ambassador to Taiwan.
Amado said Taiwan has offered assistance in every possible area and he acknowledged the nation’s role as a humanitarian donor.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching