Child health in Taiwan lags behind most developed countries, experts said yesterday.
The nation has a higher death rate among children one to nine years old than any Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country, Taiwan Child and Youth Health Alliance convener Lu Hung-chi (呂鴻基) said at a press conference on children’s rights hosted by National Taiwan University’s Children and Family Research Center.
He added that low-weight births and youth obesity are also high compared with other developed countries.
Lu blamed the high death rate on years of underinvestment in healthcare infrastructure for children.
For example, he said, the nation has only four dedicated children’s hospitals, compared with the hundreds found in many other developed countries.
The press conference was held to mark Universal Children’s Rights Day yesterday.
The government has allocated a budget to fund a new office responsible for the convention’s implementation, Social and Family Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Su-chun (陳素春) said.
She added that the government would focus on educating the public about the convention’s content.
Even as the government moves to promote children’s rights, most mayoral candidates’ platforms are largely silent on the topic, Taiwan Convention on Rights of the Child Alliance secretary-general Lee Li-feng (李麗芬) said.
The alliance’s analysis of the platforms of 55 candidates found that, while many express support for childcare subsidies and nutritious school lunches, few make any mention of more substantial children’s rights issues, with only 13 percent making any mention of health.
At another setting, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) announced that the nation officially implemented the convention yesterday.
The convention, which was adopted by the UN on Nov. 20, 1989, legally defines and protects children’s rights in a broad range of areas, including the right to life, health, education, safety and development.
Jiang said that the convention’s implementation has brought the nation’s children’s rights protection in compliance with international standards.
The Legislative Yuan passed the Enforcement Act of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (兒童權利公約施行法) on May 20, thereby adopting the treaty into domestic law.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday met with a group of children to mark Universal Children’s Rights Day.
Ma said that teachers and government officials should pay attention to the personal safety of children, and ensure that students receive a complete education and learn the basic knowledge they need to acquire.
Ma said that when he was Taipei mayor, all students in Taipei had to learn to swim, in light of the frequent drownings involving children and teenagers.
At present, only 55 percent of students around the country pass swimming tests on average, well below the target of 85 percent, Ma said.
Ma also pledged to address the problem of child abuse.
Last year, there were more than 16,000 reported cases of child abuse.
Although the number was 2,800 fewer than in 2012, it remained at a high level, he said.
He said that the government has been working to protect children even when they are still in their mothers’ wombs by allowing expectant mothers to take pregnancy leave.
In addition, Taiwan is one of the few nations in Asia that offers paid parental leave, he said, adding that the policy has so far benefited 250,000 parents.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
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