Taiwan’s Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung has written an article stressing Taiwan’s participation in the WHO is vital to global influenza pandemic readiness and response. He urged the WHO and related parties to recognize the legitimacy and importance of Taiwan’s participation in the WHO and its Assembly.

Minister Chen used the 2003 SARS outbreak in Taiwan as an example, explaining that without WHO membership, Taiwan did not receive timely information on the SARS virus and related disease control information. Thus, the government of Taiwan could not control the spread of the virus until the WHO finally dispatched experts to Taiwan. ‘SARS was a reminder to the WHO and the international community that they could not afford to leave Taiwan out in the cold, and led them to ponder ways of bridging this gap in the global health network’ the minister said.

Chen also pointed out that since Taiwan’s officials and experts were invited to participate in WHO SARS conferences in the post-SARS period, Taiwan has significantly improved its epidemic capacity. For example, Taiwan established a national stockpile of influenza antiviral drugs in 2003, formulated a national influenza pandemic preparedness and response plan in 2005, and created a pre-pandemic stockpile of the A/H5N1 vaccine for human use in 2007, following related WHO guidance.

The government of Taiwan had further established a direct liaison with the WHO headquarters which enabled it to effectively implement control measures during the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009. ‘We practiced real-time surveillance, promptly notified the WHO, and shared genetic information on the H1N1 influenza virus with the international community…effectively reducing H1N1-associated mortality and preventing the further spread of the virus domestically and abroad’ Chen said.

‘Disease knows no borders. Only by working together, leaving no one out, can we adequately address the challenges of emerging infectious diseases, which have been made all the more complex by the effects of globalization on our health environment.’

‘It is regrettable that political obstruction has resulted in Taiwan often being refused attendance at technical meetings of the WHO. This situation has created grave difficulties in Taiwan’s efforts to collaborate with the international community on disease prevention.’

Chen urged the WHO and related parties to acknowledge Taiwan’s longstanding contributions to the international community in the areas of public health, disease prevention, and the human right to health. He stressed Taiwan is willing to fulfil its responsibilities and to collaborate with the WHO to address the challenges of disease control.

‘To bridge the gap in the global disease prevention network, Taiwan needs the WHO, but the WHO also needs Taiwan,’ he concluded.