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Taiwan, PRC mull health agreement
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA, GENEVA
Wednesday, May 19, 2010, Page 3
Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (·¨§Ó¨}) and his counterpart
from China met on the sidelines of the opening of the World Health Assembly (WHA)
in Geneva on Monday to discuss possible future cooperation.
During the one-hour meeting, Yaung and Chinese Minister of Health Chen Zhu (³¯ªÇ)
reached a consensus to cooperate on clinical trials for an enterovirus vaccine,
food safety management and public health.
Yaung said they agreed to sign a deal on public health cooperation during the
sixth round of cross-strait talks between Taiwan and China, scheduled to be held
in the second half of this year.
Yaung said Taiwan and China were leading the world in developing an enterovirus
vaccine and planned to start human trials of the vaccine in the second half of
the year.
Experts from both sides will attend a meeting within two months in Shanghai to
facilitate cooperation on the clinical trials, Yaung said.
The DOH chief also said a seminar was scheduled to be held in Taiwan in the
second half of the year on multiple drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis.
The disease poses an enormous threat to world health, and experts in Taiwan and
China have yet to find a way to treat the disease, he said.
On other issues, Yaung said that China had not implemented a cross-strait
agreement on food safety because Beijing has had difficulty coordinating its
various government agencies to fulfill its obligations.
Yaung also invited Chen to visit Taiwan to gain an understanding of Taiwan's
medical and health services in remote areas and its national health insurance
system.
In a separate meeting with Guatemala's top health official on Monday, Yaung
promised to donate 2 million doses of influenza A(H1N1) vaccine.
Since arriving in Geneva on Saturday, Yaung has also met with officials from
Honduras, Singapore and Haiti.
This is the second year that Taiwan has been invited to attend the WHA ¡X the
WHO's decision-making body ¡X as an observer. The WHA concludes on Friday.
Yaung is scheduled to deliver a five-minute speech on Taiwan¡¦s experience in
running a universal health insurance program and in fighting influenza A(H1N1)
and other epidemics at the plenary session today.
In related developments, legislators who attended the WHA as part of the
Taiwanese delegation said Taiwan should seek to join the WHO as a formal member.
Yaung said Taiwan's ultimate goal was acquiring full membership in the
organization.
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