Foreign Affairs: Letter: Room for Everyone
Brian Su, deputy director general at Taipei Economic and Cultural Office

“…For years, Taiwan has been excluded from the WHO. Continuing this practice will not serve Tedros’ purposes [to increase health care coverage and ‘leave no one behind’] well. Taiwan has one of the world’s best universal health care systems, which offers reasonably priced, high-quality care, with a coverage rate of 99 percent of the population and short waiting times. Taiwan could do a lot to help the WHO speed up the expansion of health coverage, and many countries could benefit from Taiwan’s know-how and medical expertise. … If the WHO is serious about preventing epidemics and closing the gaps in global health coverage, it should not let any member states dictate its actions. The WHO should adhere to its principles, convey its professional concerns honestly to its members, and refuse to succumb to political pressure to exclude anyone” (November/December 2017).