University of Nottingham’s “Taiwan Insight”: Health Care for All Humanity? The Case of the World Health Organisation and Taiwan
Najee Woods, writer for American Citizens for Taiwan and member of Formosan Association for Public Affairs, discusses the World Health Organization’s exclusion of Taiwan from global health discussions, writing, “Since the late 1990s, Taiwan has attempted on numerous occasions to gain observer status within WHO, but requests were not considered in the [World Health Assembly (WHA)] agenda. Taiwan does not have the same privileges that other WHO member-states enjoy, such as access to information on the latest outbreaks and epidemics. … Purposely excluding Taiwan by prioritizing the [People’s Republic of China’s (PRC)] political ambitions over the health of all runs contrary to the intention of the WHO constitution. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus constantly promotes the idea of health care for all humanity. But … [u]ntil WHO allows Taiwan fair representation at WHA, the director general’s words are nothing more than an empty slogan” (7/29).