WMA Urges World Health Organisation to Open its Doors to Taiwan
Against the background of the war in Ukraine, the World Medical Association has called on the World Health Organisation to ‘open its doors’ by granting Taiwan observer status to this year’s World Health Assembly.
In a letter to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, the President of the WMA Dr. Heidi Stensmyren and the Chair of the WMA Council, Prof. Dr. Frank Ulrich Montgomery, say Taiwan should be allowed
to participate in all the WHA’s health programmes on a substantive, timely and professional basis.
They write: ‘The World is rapidly changing. Aggression, passive and active, seem to be more and more the tools of some country leaders to solve problems.
‘It is now more than ever necessary to open the doors of the United Nations bodies, especially the World Health Organization. We all have to strive now for inclusion, diplomacy and peaceful cooperation of those who are willing
to live in peace. For the World Medical Association, we repeat our call for an inclusion of Taiwan in the activities of WHO’.
The two WMA leaders say Taiwan should be included in the World Health Assembly as a fully participating party to the International Health Regulations, allowing its critical contribution to the global health protection network.
The WMA has repeatedly called for Taiwan’s admission to the World Health Assembly, arguing that the millions of Taiwanese people deserve their health interests to be represented. For several years, Taiwan was given
observer status, but in recent years it has been refused.
In a letter to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, the President of the WMA Dr. Heidi Stensmyren and the Chair of the WMA Council, Prof. Dr. Frank Ulrich Montgomery, say Taiwan should be allowed
to participate in all the WHA’s health programmes on a substantive, timely and professional basis.
They write: ‘The World is rapidly changing. Aggression, passive and active, seem to be more and more the tools of some country leaders to solve problems.
‘It is now more than ever necessary to open the doors of the United Nations bodies, especially the World Health Organization. We all have to strive now for inclusion, diplomacy and peaceful cooperation of those who are willing
to live in peace. For the World Medical Association, we repeat our call for an inclusion of Taiwan in the activities of WHO’.
The two WMA leaders say Taiwan should be included in the World Health Assembly as a fully participating party to the International Health Regulations, allowing its critical contribution to the global health protection network.
The WMA has repeatedly called for Taiwan’s admission to the World Health Assembly, arguing that the millions of Taiwanese people deserve their health interests to be represented. For several years, Taiwan was given
observer status, but in recent years it has been refused.