The government aims to extend the average life expectancy by three years to 82 and reduce the average unhealthy period of one’s lifetime from 10 percent to 8 percent, or about 6.56 years, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said at the Healthy Aging Forum in Taipei on Tuesday.
While average life expectancy in Taiwan is almost 80, Taiwanese spend an average of eight years in poor health, meaning that the average Taiwanese spends about 10 percent of their life unhealthy, bed-ridden or in need of care, Cho said.
The government’s medical expenses must increase dramatically if it is to increase life expectancy and the number of healthy years, he said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
It must prepare long-term plans for medical and care services so that Taiwanese can enjoy a healthier and happier life in their later years, he said.
The goal is to reduce the stress on families and caregivers by ensuring that the public receives greater support, he said.
The Presidential Office established the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee to set essential milestones for achieving the national vision of a “healthy Taiwan,” he said.
The government is developing health policies, Cho said, giving the example of the 888 Program, which aims to admit 80 percent of patients with the “three hypers” — hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia and hypertension — under care to ensure they are acclimated to medical consultations and have their conditions under control, Cho said.
The government’s cancer treatment and prevention policies, such as increasing rates of early-stage cancer screenings, targeted gene screenings and precision medicine, and the establishment of a new fund of NT$10 billion (US$304.3 million) to acquire new drugs for cancer treatment, aim to reduce cancer-induced mortality rates by one-third by 2030, he added.
The central government’s fiscal budget for this year grew by NT$280.6 billion compared with last year, much of which is due to increased funding for the National Health Insurance and other health-related programs, he said, urging legislators to be “rational” when reviewing the budget.
Cho said the forum is a significant event and thanked the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (AmCham) for providing invaluable opinions on Taiwan’s economy, energy, agriculture, technology development and other fields.
The forum was held in Taipei and cohosted by AmCham and the American Institute in Taiwan.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS