Taiwan has again this year not been invited to the annual World Health Assembly (WHA), but it intends to have a presence on the sidelines of the event in Geneva, Switzerland, including promoting the nation’s achievements in public health and healthcare.
The International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), a government-funded agency that runs foreign-aid programs, is on Wednesday next week to make a presentation in Geneva on Taiwan’s public health-related cooperation projects, ICDF Deputy Secretary-General Lee Pai-po (李柏浡) said on Friday.
The WHA is being held from Monday to Saturday next week.
At the planned event, ICDF is to present how it helped two allies, Belize and Saint Kitts and Nevis, establish basic facilities to prevent and control chronic kidney disease, which people in those nations are prone to, Lee said.
The agency helped train local healthcare personnel and promoted measures for kidney disease prevention with assistance from Taiwanese hospitals, with the goal of lowering the disease’s prevalence in those nations, Lee said.
ICDF is also assisting Paraguay, another of Taiwan’s 19 diplomatic allies, to improve its management of medical data and overall medical services, he added.
Lee said that Taiwan would invite health officials from allies and nations friendly to Taiwan to the presentation, which he hopes would let the world know about Taiwan’s capabilities in promoting public health and preventing chronic diseases.
Taiwan is eager to share with other nations its expertise and know-how in the establishment of medical data systems because of its competitiveness in that field, Lee said.
The publicity blitz is part of Taiwan’s ongoing campaign to secure the support of the international community to help it overcome China’s obstruction and to participate in the WHA.
Since 1997, Taiwan has made efforts to join the WHO, but without success. From 2009 to 2016, when relations with China were better, it was invited to attend the WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, as an observer.
However, Beijing has taken a hardline stance toward Taiwan since the Democratic Progressive Party took power in May 2016, cutting official ties and blocking Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
Last year, the WHO, under pressure from China, withheld an invitation for Taiwan to participate in the 70th WHA. This year, Taiwan was kept out of the assembly for the second year in a row due to China’s obstruction.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
RSS