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of such operations, the project
aims to assist St. Vincent and
the Grenadines in promoting the
utilization of e-government services,
closing the digital divide, and
developing ICT-related human
resources. A National ICT Center
has been set up and serves as an
integrated ICT platform in this partner
country, while the project has also
provided training courses to expand
ICT capacity among government
officials.
Elsewhere, we continued to
develop projects in emerging
disciplines based on partners’
needs, in accordance with their
specific national development
strategies. To take our Census and
Classification of Plant Resources in
the Solomon Islands as an example,
statistics indicate that the country’s
abundant ecosystems are home
to more than 7,000 native species.
In the past 10 years, however,
massive deforestation and the
cultivation of cash crops such as
oil palm and cocoa has caused the
gradual reduction of native forests,
putting the existence of many native
species under significant pressure
and driving others to the brink of
extinction. This led Solomon Islands
authorities to invite the TaiwanICDF
to implement a five-year project
that aims to conduct a survey of
local plant species, promote local
conservation and enhance local
botanical capacity in support of
sustainable development.
Public Health and Medicine
Providing globalized medical
and humanitarian assistance and
contributing toward the welfare
of the global health and medical
environment are leading streams of
thought within the field of international
health care, and serve as a vision
for the MDGs. With these goals set
to expire in 2015, the TaiwanICDF
continues to develop public health
and medical operations based on
the post-2015 development agenda,
integrating past experiences and
promoting related projects based on
the principle of ownership, including
through its Healthcare Personnel
Training Program, and its Used
Medical Equipment Donation and
Training Project, as well as other
public health and medical projects.
Working with Taiwanese medical
institutions and organizations, the
TaiwanICDF has raised the capacity
of medical personnel in partner
countries through the implementation
of its Healthcare Personnel Training
Program, inviting overseas medical
personnel to Taiwan to attend
clinical training over periods of
approximately one to three months.
Sharing experiences and transferring
medical techniques improves
participants’ professional capacity
to great effect. In addition to the fact
that the program raises the visibility
of Taiwan’s advantages in health
and medicine through cooperation
with 17 institutions, participants are
also expected to provide assistance
to future TaiwanICDF projects by
becoming instructors or project
facilitators after returning home.
Furthermore, our Used Medical
Equipment Donation and Training
Project responds to partner countries’
requirements in accordance with the
state of their health care environment,
cooperating with the Ministry of
Health and Welfare’s Global Medical
Instruments Support and Service
Program in procuring and repairing
second-hand medical equipment.
In 2014, we donated medical
equipment to St. Vincent and the
Grenadines and Palau, and also held
associated training in Palau.
Elsewhere, the TaiwanICDF
i s cu r ren t l y imp l emen t i ng a
Strengthening the Management
of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Hype r t ens i on among Mob i l e
Populations in Southern Africa
Project. Working with international
organizations, our aim is to enhance
the tracking efficiency for mobile
populations suffering from HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and hypertension within
the health information systems in
South Africa and Malawi, thereby
increasing survival rates. In addition
to inviting officials to Taiwan for
observation activities in 2014,
the project has also completed
the installation of hardware and
conducted training on related
software at partner hospitals in
Malawi, including a System Software
Development, Maintenance and
Troubleshooting Training Course
and a System Hardware Operations,
Maintenance and Troubleshooting
Training Course.
In the future, the TaiwanICDF will
continue to implement core strategies
and respond to the needs of partner
countries based on Taiwan’s own
advantages, launching new public
health and medical projects, such
as a Capacity Building Project
for the Prevention and Control of
Chronic Renal Failure in Belize, and
a Maternal and Infant Health Care
Improvement Project in Swaziland.
Meanwhile, we will not only integrate
resources, strengthen partnerships
and develop new projects through
cooperation with various public and
private departments, but also transfer
public health experience to partner
countries, raising partner countries’
capacity building and their potential
to develop sustainably.