Taiwan is committed to working with like-minded partners to solve global health challenges, including the fight against infectious diseases, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said on Tuesday.
Since 2015, Taiwan has been collaborating with the US through the Global Cooperation and Training Framework to hold workshops on the prevention of epidemics such as dengue fever, Ebola and the Zika virus, Chen said.
The vice president was meeting with a visiting delegation led by Tommaso Urbani, the son of late Italian physician Carlo Urbani, the WHO official who identified severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in February 2003.
Carlo Urbani later became infected with the virus while treating SARS patients and he died in Bangkok on March 29, 2003, at the age of 46.
Carlo Urbani’s early warning to the WHO touched off a massive response that helped save millions of lives around the world, Chen told Tommaso Urbani.
Noting that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the SARS epidemic, Chen said that as one of nations worst hit by the disease, Taiwan is committed to efforts to improve public health and prevent the spread of diseases around the world.
In 2014, Taiwan donated funds to the WHO and equipment to frontline medical personnel in their fight against the Ebola outbreak, the vice president said.
As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan is ready and willing to contribute funding, medical expertise and technology to enhance health security around the world, Chen said.
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