President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of July 11 met with foreign guests attending Europe-Taiwan Health Dialogue 2012. In addition to recognizing the importance of the forum in providing a platform for various sectors to exchange their views, the president also expressed his hopes to see continued cooperation and interaction on health topics in order to jointly promote health for the world's population.
In remarks, the president said that non-communicable diseases have become serious threat to the health of mankind in recent years. In response to this new challenge, the 65th World Health Assembly in May of this year passed a resolution to create a global monitoring framework and recommendations for a set of voluntary global targets for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases with the hope of reducing the number of pre-mature deaths resulting from such diseases can be reduced by 25% by the year 2025.
The president explained to the visitors that the ROC introduced its national health insurance system in 1985 and presently over 99% of the population is covered under the plan. However, the nation is still facing challenges in the area of non-communicable diseases and issues associated with an aging society. The government, he said, must not only ensure that financial safety of the healthy care system, but also must consider issues such as reform of the system and adjustments in the pay-out mechanism. Consequently, the government has included a family physician system in the second generation health insurance system, while also adding a "capitation payment system" or "case payment system." It is hoped that the reforms in this respect will make the system more patient-oriented, while also making the care services more pro-active, project-oriented, and integrated in nature, the president said.
President Ma commented that one out of every two adult males in Taiwan is overweight, with the ratio for women being one for every three. In addition, one out of every four children is overweight. He added that Taiwan ranks first in Asia in the percentage of adults who are overweight or obese. In an effort to respond to this challenge, the government last year initiated a nationwide weight-loss program, he explained, adding that over 3% of the nation's population, or 720,000 people, have participated in the initiative. These people have lost a total of 1,104 tonnes, he said. The project has won global attention, he stated, noting that US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at this year's World Health Assembly met with ROC Minister of Health Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達), during which she expressed a keen interest in this program.
The president also mentioned that when he was Taipei City mayor, he also promoted a project aimed at having city residents lose a total of 100 tonnes. Ultimately, the participants reduced their weight by an aggregate 180 tonnes, he said, adding that he personally lost eight kilograms. In the future, the government will continue to promote related policies with the hope of effectively promoting health awareness, he said.
President Ma stated that the European Health Forum Gastein, founded in 1998, has become one of Europe's most important health policy forums. The ROC began attending the forum in 2002 and it has benefited greatly from its interaction and cooperation with various sectors, he said. President Ma also expressed his appreciation to forum founder Gunther Leiner, who has been invited to speak here for the third time. He furthermore said he hopes to see continued cooperation between Taiwan and Europe on the health front, with these efforts ultimately helping to promote health among mankind.
The delegation, which included European Health Forum Gastein Founder Gunther Leiner and President-elect Helmut Brand, Princeton University Professor of Political Economy Uwe E. Reinhardt and Health Policy Research Analyst at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Tsung-Mei Cheng (鄭宗美), Member of the European Parliament Milan Cabrnoch, European Public Health Association President Walter Ricciardi, UK National Obesity Observatory Director Harry Rutter, and AGE Platform Europe President Marjan Sedmak, went to the Presidential Office in the afternoon to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were Minister of Health Chiu and National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Chih-kung Liu (劉志攻).