Financial Times publish Representative Lin’s letter on Taiwan’s WHA participation
分享到
Representative Lin’s letter regarding Taiwan’s participation in the WHA was published in the Financial Times on 25 May, entitled ‘Disease control needs an inclusive approach.’
Representative Lin’s letter stressed the need for the WHO to include the entire world if the global challenge of infectious disease is to be tackled. In the letter, he warned that Taiwan’s exclusion from the 70th WHA can be proved as a risk to the entire world, referring to the 2003 SARS outbreak in which Taiwan was unable to receive vital information from the WHO to stop the virus from spreading. He contrasted the 2003 disaster to Taiwan’s success in preventing the spread of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 when direct communications channels with the WHO enabled Taiwan to implement control measures and produce a vaccine.
Representative Lin also reminded the world that by excluding Taiwan, the WHA risks undoing years of progress and repeating past mistakes. He called on the newly elected WHO director to stand up to political pressure from national governments and ensure that the organisation acts according to its constitution by excluding no-one. ‘Only by working together and leaving no-one out can we adequately address the challenges of global disease control,’ he concluded.
