Taiwan calls for inclusion in WHO

MINISTER OF HEALTH and Welfare, Republic of China (Taiwan), Dr. Hsueh Jui-yuan, has outlined his country’s indispensability in preparing for future pandemics and the necessity for it to be at the table within the World Health Organisation (WHO) to lend its voice to this and other issues. Dr Hseuh has outlined Taiwan’s case as follows: The three years of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a terrible loss of life and exacerbated health inequalities. The global economy slumped and, worldwide, people’s lives were affected.

This experience demonstrated that the present global health governance framework is not effective in responding to threats to global health.

Although COVID-19 is no longer labelled a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), and trade and economic activity globally have returned to normal, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautions against the threat of a Disease X pandemic.

Therefore, it is critical that countries across the globe unite to bolster health governance. WHO and many countries began reviewing response strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Weaknesses in the International Health Regulations (2005) as concerns managing this crisis were revealed. As a result, changes are afoot.

Proposed revisions include enhanced surveillance, reporting, and information sharing; improved response readiness; and revised criteria for declaring PHEICs.

At the same time, 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.

As Taiwan is not a WHO member state, we cannot directly influence revisions to the International Health Regulations (2005) or the drafting of the pandemic agreement. Nevertheless, we remain greatly concerned about the content of and developments regarding these central documents.

We are eager to contribute our insights into pandemic management and learn from international best practices. Taiwan was the nation that initially identified the epidemic risk and promptly executed adaptive measures.

Taiwan also proactively shared vital information with global partners and garnered public trust through a commitment to openness.

This was crucial to effectively implementing pandemic policies. To address future pandemics, we will strive to refine approaches to obtaining vaccines, managing medical resources, utilizing technology, safeguarding human rights, and addressing misinformation.

We strongly endorse the passage and implementation of amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) and the pandemic agreement.

We call on WHO to include Taiwan as a signatory to these documents.

This would enable us to collaborate on monitoring new virus strains, reporting and exchanging pathogen diagnosis data, and sharing novel vaccine and antiviral research or clinical trial results. This would further collective global action against future pandemics and more resilient anti-pandemic efforts by the international community. We urge WHO to support Taiwan’s inclusion in overseeing global health.

and the human right to health. It is imperative that WHO adopt a more open-minded approach and demonstrate flexibility, adhering to the principles of professionalism and inclusivity. 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. This would better empower Taiwan to collaborate with global partners to uphold the fundamental human right to health stipulated in the WHO Constitution and the vision of leaving no one behind espoused in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.