Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) has partnered with Columbia University in New York City to develop a mobile healthcare app so that Syrian refugees in Turkey can have better access to healthcare information, the organization said yesterday.
Earlier this month, the ICDF — the nation’ s dedicated foreign aid organization chaired by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) — agreed to collaborate with Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development on the Refugees Act and Communicate for Health (REACH) project, ICDF Secretary-General Timothy Hsiang (項恬毅) told a news conference in Taipei.
The university reached out about collaborating on the project after the organization visited the center last year, he said, adding that the ICDF has promoted public healthcare in many nations.
Photo courtesy of the ICDF
This is the first time that the organization has worked with the university and the first time that it would be participating in a humanitarian aid project in Turkey, he added.
As part of the arrangement, an ICDF volunteer is to spend one year in Istanbul, a metropolitan area that hosts many refugees, the organization said.
The volunteer would assist center staff in setting up and running the program, facilitating communication between the project and community groups, and learning the users’ needs, it said.
The ICDF is working with the university on developing requirements for the position, it added.
Initially, the mHealth (mobile health) app would have basic information, such as telephone numbers and addresses, for local healthcare facilities, while other features are to be added based on users’ needs, the organization said.
To advocate for the healthcare rights of refugees, the REACH project plans to create a Web site, host panels and photography exhibitions, and publish media and policy reports, Hsiang said.
The project also seeks to publish relevant research in international scientific journals, he said.
It hopes to raise awareness about refugee health by fostering dialogue and cooperation among refugee youth, local youth, the Turkish government, local non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and other groups and individuals, he said.
Since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, 5.6 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries, the organization said, adding that Turkey has taken in about 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees, the most of any nation.
Although the Turkish government provides free healthcare to registered refugees within its borders, the healthcare information that refugees can receive is impeded by factors such as geographic location, financial ability and language barriers, the organization added.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
MEDIA, SOCIETY FOCUS: Doublethink Lab said that Beijing is trying to coerce countries that rely on China economically to pursue policies in its favor China has stronger influence over Taiwan’s media and society than any other country, the Taipei-based Doublethink Lab think tank said yesterday, as it announced its China Index gauging Beijing’s global influence. Taiwan ranked 11th overall among 82 countries assessed, but first in terms of social and media influence, Doublethink Lab chairman Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a news conference in Taipei. More than 200 experts and academics participated in the project, including some highly influential figures, Shen said. The index collects information from countries worldwide to gauge China’s influence and assess how Chinese policies affect them, Shen said. In terms of Chinese
TRADE MISSION: After Fijian elections in December last year, pro-democratic parties formed a coalition and overruled a name change imposed by the former government The Taipei Trade Office in Fiji has been restored to its former name, the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Republic of Fiji, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Fiji on Friday last week issued a note verbale to the office saying that the name change was retroactively effective from March 15, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Wallace Chow (周民淦) told a news conference in Taipei. The mission’s diplomatic privileges have been reinstated as stipulated in Fiji’s Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act, which was enacted in 1971, Chow said. Taiwan set up a trade
RSS