English Open Forum |
WHO for Taiwan
In your acceptance speech for the World Health Assembly, you announced that the key mission of the World Health Organization (WHO) is "[to be] the moral voice and the technical leader in improving health of the people of the world. Ready and able to give advice on the key issues that can unleash development and alleviate suffering."
Nonetheless, we have just seen the WHO fail its own goal. The WHO ignored calls for help from Taiwan on the recent outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic.
The refuse of the WHO to provide critical information and medical advice to Taiwan not only left the lives of its 23 million residents at risk, but also cast serious health threats to the global community. It is immoral and inhumane for the WHO to sacrifice the well being of Taiwanese people under political pressure from the People's Republic of China (PRC).
In addition, it is unfortunate that the WHO enlists Taiwan as a province or a region of the People's Republic of China in SARS related documents.
Taiwan is a self-governed, democratic, sovereign state that operates independently from the PRC government. This is best manifested in the fact that the WHO obtains updated information on SARS in Taiwan from the Taiwanese government, not the PRC government. This false and misleading information should be corrected immediately to reflect the reality that the health care system in Taiwan is completely distinct from that of the PRC.
The PRC government has never engaged in any efforts in disease control in Taiwan; it also has no legitimacy and competency to deal with health issues of Taiwanese people.
The Taiwanese government has been transparent and progressive in reacting to the SARS epidemic; the PRC government, on the other hand, has procrastinated and downplayed the SARS crisis.
It would be highly detrimental to the Taiwanese people if Taiwan's health care system were placed under the control of the PRC government.
Taiwan's exclusion from the WHO has caused difficulties for timely medical
investigations to identifying the source of SARS and to containing its spread. In this era of globalization where diseases travel beyond geographical and political
boundaries, similar situations could occur again if Taiwan does not get included soon.
As an organization that upholds health as a fundamental right of every human being without distinction of political beliefs, the WHO should push for Taiwan's membership to grant Taiwanese people full access to medical resources in the international community, and to enable Taiwan to further substantiate its contributions to global health.
It would be greatly appreciated if you would give these important issues serious considerations.
Yours very sincerely,
台灣獨立建國聯盟網站／WUFI Web-site
WUFI Open-Forum is open to anyone who wishes to express his/her viewpoints,
ANONYMOUS 2003/04/24
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General,
The World Health Organization ,
Avenue Appia 20, 1211 Geneva 27,
Switzerland
Dear Dr. Brundtland:
World United Formosans for Independence
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