Taiwan’s medical aid teams step it up
OVER the last half century, millions of patients all over the world have received medical assistance from Taiwan. Regardless of distance, regardless of nationality, Taiwan was always there, leading, teaching, caring, and unceasingly living by the mantra, Leave no one behind.
According to statistics, Taiwan has contributed over US$6 billion since 1996 in medical and humanitarian aid campaigns benefiting millions of people in more than 80 countries. These include 50-plus programmes aimed at combating diseases such as AIDS, bird flu, Ebola, dengue fever, tuberculosis, malaria, MERS, and Zika in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the South Pacific.
In line with the international effort to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals via the 2030 Agenda, and ensure that people of all ages, especially infants and children, have access to medical services, Taiwan’s medical teams have seen service in nations particularly in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the South Pacific.
Acting both in residence and as mobile medical teams, these professionals have provided clinical care, offered sanitation education, and provided training in midwifery and medical management. They have also worked where needed on projects to improve the health of pregnant women and infants.
As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan is committed to taking part in the WHA and other WHO activities, mechanisms and meetings in an effort to achieve goals set out under the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, bolster global health and promote the well-being of people of all ages.
Taking but one example, Burkina Faso, Taiwan’s medical personnel treat about 14,000 patients each year. And, since 2006, over 100 mobile medical teams have been dispatched to more than 20 countries in Africa, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, benefiting over 150,000 people. Private charitable groups from Taiwan also run free clinics all over the world.
Taiwan has put together a website, leavenoonebehind.com.tw to show its contributions to global health, made over many decades and many miles.
Since 2009, Taiwan has been an official observer at WHO’s annual assembly, allowing it to take part in the global fight against disease. Taiwan’s exclusion this year could not only endanger its own 23 million citizens, but create a loophole in global health security networks that will risk lives across Asia and beyond. Liu Bang-chuan Senior Adviser of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia