What is the context?
- Taiwan’s health-related policies including disease prevention, digital health, COVID-19 mitigation, and Taiwan’s call for its inclusion in the World Health Assembly.
- Taiwan fully supports health-related SDGs and the World Health Organization’s Triple Billion targets.
- It is committed to building a more resilient and equitable health service supply chain, maintaining an inclusive and equitable universal health coverage system.
- It provides disease prevention and management through a robust primary health-care system.
How did Taiwan effectively mitigate the spread of COVID-19?
- Taiwan effectively mitigated the spread of COVID-19 by leveraging its comprehensive public health-care system, well-trained personnel, and epidemiological surveillance, investigation, and analysis systems.
- Additionally, the Taiwanese people played a pivotal role too by following appropriate social behaviour, following quarantine regulations and getting vaccinated.
What is Taiwan’s approach to disease prevention?
- Taiwan established a universal health-care insurance system in 1995, which provides disease prevention and health-care services for all.
- These include prenatal checkups, gestational diabetes screening, anemia testing, and three ultrasound examinations to reduce pregnancy risks and promote maternal and infant health.
- Taiwan also has a number of prevention and management programmes for non-communicable diseases, targets chronic metabolic diseases help assist at-risk groups, and provides diet and exercise guidance as well as smoking and betel nut cessation information to empower people.
- Taiwan also supports the global fight against cancer and WHO’s goal of reducing cancer mortality by 25% by 2025.
What is Taiwan’s stance on digital health and innovation?
- Taiwan is committed to promoting digital health and innovation to enhance the accessibility and quality of health-care services, including plans for a next-generation National Health Insurance (NHI) programme.
- It utilises real-time tele-health consultations for remote areas and outlying islands and is exploring applications for artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
- Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan issued 13 export licenses for its herbal formula NRICM101 to help countries in the region combat the pandemic.
Why is Taiwan calling for its inclusion in the World Health Assembly?
- Taiwan has not been invited to the World Health Assembly since 2017.
- Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is abating and dialogue on strengthening health systems worldwide is accelerating, Taiwan believes it should not be left out.
- Taiwan’s inclusion would make the world healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable.
- Taiwan urges WHO and all relevant stakeholders to support its inclusion in the World Health Assembly as an observer, as well as its full participation in WHO meetings, mechanisms, and activities.
What is Taiwan’s stance on health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
- Taiwan fully supports health-related SDGs and the World Health Organization’s Triple Billion targets.
- It is committed to building a more resilient and equitable health service supply chain, maintaining an inclusive and equitable universal health coverage system, and providing disease prevention and management through a robust primary health-care system.
How did Taiwan effectively mitigate the spread of COVID-19?
- Taiwan effectively mitigated the spread of COVID-19 by leveraging its comprehensive public health-care system, well-trained personnel, and epidemiological surveillance, investigation, and analysis systems.
- Additionally, the Taiwanese people played a pivotal role too by following appropriate social behaviour, following quarantine regulations and getting vaccinated.
What is Taiwan’s approach to disease prevention?
Taiwan established a universal health-care insurance system in 1995, which provides disease prevention and health-care services for all.
These include prenatal checkups, gestational diabetes screening, anemia testing, and three ultrasound examinations to reduce pregnancy risks and promote maternal and infant health.
Taiwan also has a number of prevention and management programmes for-
- non-communicable diseases,
- targets chronic metabolic diseases help assist at-risk groups, and
- provides diet and exercise guidance as well as smoking and betel nut cessation information to empower people
Taiwan also supports the global fight against cancer and WHO’s goal of reducing cancer mortality by 25% by 2025.
What is Taiwan’s stance on digital health and innovation?
Answer: Taiwan is committed to promoting digital health and innovation to enhance the accessibility and quality of health-care services, including plans for a next-generation National Health Insurance (NHI) programme. It utilises real-time tele-health consultations for remote areas and outlying islands and is exploring applications for artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan issued 13 export licenses for its herbal formula NRICM101 to help countries in the region combat the pandemic.
Why is Taiwan calling for its inclusion in the World Health Assembly?
Taiwan has not been invited to the World Health Assembly since 2017. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is abating and dialogue on strengthening health systems worldwide is accelerating, Taiwan believes it should not be left out. Taiwan’s inclusion would make the world healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable. Taiwan urges WHO and all relevant stakeholders to support its inclusion in the World Health Assembly as an observer, as well as its full participation in WHO meetings, mechanisms, and activities.
Possible UPSC CSE Mains questions
- Discuss the role of Taiwan in achieving the ‘right to health’ goal. How has Taiwan effectively mitigated the spread of COVID-19?
- Analyze Taiwan’s approach to disease prevention and management. How has it contributed to the global fight against cancer?
- Explain Taiwan’s stance on digital health and innovation. How has it promoted the accessibility and quality of healthcare services?
- Discuss the significance of Taiwan’s call for its inclusion in the World Health Assembly. How can Taiwan’s participation make the world healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable?
- Evaluate Taiwan’s commitment to health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Health Organization’s Triple Billion targets. How has it built a more resilient and equitable health service supply chain?