Taiwan has urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the island's inclusion in the World Health Assembly, the world's highest health policy-making body, in order to develop a comprehensive global health framework.
Taiwan's Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan stated in an article about the 77th World Health Assembly published in the Malaysian English-language daily New Straits Times, that Taipei is committed to participating based on "professionalism, pragmatism, and making contributions."
The article was published on Tuesday, a week after the US issued a statement urging the WHO to reinstate Taiwan's invitation to participate as an observer at this year's World Health Assembly, prompting an angry response from China, which considers the island nation as part of its territory.
Taiwan is not a WHO member.
"Taiwan believes that health is a human right. Yet the rights of Taiwan's 23 million people are disregarded by WHO for political reasons," Hsueh stated in the article.
"Taiwan seeks to cooperate with WHO to remedy geographic gaps in global health security and to construct a comprehensive global health framework," he added.
The minister expressed concerns about "weaknesses" in the International Health Regulations (2005) to manage the COVID-19 crisis, believing that the current international health governance framework is not "effective in responding to threats to global health."
"There is vigorous debate around a new pandemic agreement, which aims to craft a robust global pandemic governance framework grounded in accountability, transparency, and equity. It may be approved at the 77th World Health Assembly," he went on to say.
"We strongly support the adoption and implementation of amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) and the pandemic agreement," he stated, urging the WHO to include Taiwan as a signatory to these documents.
This, he explained, would allow Taiwan to collaborate on monitoring new virus strains, reporting and exchanging pathogen diagnosis data, and sharing novel vaccine and antiviral research or clinical trial results.
Enumerating his country's recent achievements in the health sector, the minister said, "We have improved medical care in small South Pacific island nations, enhanced nutrition for women and children affected by an earthquake in Haiti, provided psychological support to Ukrainian refugee women and children in Romania as well as aid workers; bolstered climate change adaptability in the Caribbean; and improved access to water, sanitation, and hygiene at healthcare facilities in Kenya."
Furthermore, he added, Taiwan has provided humanitarian assistance through post-disaster recovery and reconstruction efforts that have helped people during disasters in the Philippines, Japan, Hawaii, Türkiye, and Indonesia.
"Taiwan should be included, as a matter of pragmatism, in the World Health Assembly and all WHO meetings, activities, and mechanisms, particularly those concerned with the WHO pandemic agreement," he added.
