TAIWAN BAN UNREASONABLE - MINISTER

MBABANE – The political pre-conditions set by the People’s Republic of China banning Taiwan’s participation in the ongoing World Health Assembly have been described as unreasonable and groundless.
These were the words of the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, who spoke on behalf of the Kingdom of Eswatini on Monday during the annual meeting which is held in Geneva, Switzerland.      

This was during the two-plus-two debate at the 72nd World Health Assembly where Eswatini and 13 other allies of Taiwan requested for the inclusion of the supplementary item to be entitled: “Inviting Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly as an Observer”, in the agenda of the ongoing session. The minister informed the assembly that as stated in the Constitution of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the objective of the organisation shall be the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all people.

“The mandate of WHO will never be fulfilled if Taiwan’s 23 million people are left behind,” said Nkosi.

Decision-making

The WHA is the decision-making body of WHO and is  attended by delegations from all WHO member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board.
Eswatini through the minister said Taiwan was a significant partner in international health and humanitarian aid work.

She said with Taiwan’s experience and expertise, it was committed to help advance global welfare and the right of all people across the world to access health.
“Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly as an observer is a health matter and an issue of basic human rights,” said Nkosi. 
She further submitted that the WHO was a neutral and professional body and should not be used as a political arena.

Nkosi said recent years had seen a string of international outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola and Zika Virus, and it should be remembered clearly the human toll of the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic.
The minister said globalisation had created a clear risk of the cross-border transmission of communicable diseases.

“Taiwan should not become a gap in the global health system, nor should its people be denied their right to health,” said Nkosi.
She said as the Director General Dr. Tedros had rightly said, “The best thing we can do to prevent future outbreaks is to strengthen health systems everywhere” she quoted.
Nkosi said leaving any one region out of the global health network created a gap that undermined global public health and safety.

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