In the run-up to the 72nd World Health Assembly (WHA) from 20-28 May, Taiwan’s Minister of Health and Welfare Shih-chung Chen highlighted Taiwan’s advances in digital healthcare to call for Taiwan’s inclusion in the upcoming WHA meetings in Geneva. With Taiwan’s success in its National Health Insurance (NHI), Minister Chen argued that Taiwan can help other countries achieve universal health coverage by 2030, the goal set by the Health Workforce 2030 of the World Health Organization (WHO). According to Minister Chen, Taiwan’s NHI ranks 14th in the 2017 Global Access to Healthcare Index of The Economist and ninth in the 2018 Health Care Efficiency Index of Bloomberg Finance. The Minister also pointed out that Taiwan has developed tools utilising artificial intelligence and cloud computing to enhance its healthcare, such as the MediCloud and PharmaCloud systems, and has provided scholarships to thousands of people, both Taiwanese and foreign nationals, to further the WHO’s goal.
Despite all of this, Minister Chen said, political obstruction has deprived Taiwan of the right to participate in and contribute to the WHA, adding that the WHO has denied Taiwanese delegates access to the assembly in the past two years. The Minister urged the WHO abide by its own principles of inclusiveness and universal participation, and invite Taiwan to participate in the coming world health meetings. “Taiwan is a worthy and reliable partner that can help countries around the world achieve the meaningful goal of universal health coverage by 2030,” he said.
