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Special Reports
45
I
n an e ff o r t t o mee t t he UN
Sustainable Development Goals,
in recent years the operations of
the TaiwanICDF Public Health
and Medicine division have been
adjusted to respond to the needs of
our partner countries. After actively
reviewing their needs, we initiated
projects based on the themes of
“maternal and child healthcare,”
“prevention and control of AIDS,
tuberculosis and neglected tropical
diseases,” “prevention and control of
chronic diseases,” and “promotion
of health information systems (HIS),”
and introduced resources from
Taiwan’s medical institutions to help
partner countries strengthen their
healthcare systems.
Strengthening exchange
projects through cooperation
between governments and the
private sector
In 2015, projects carried out in
the African region include the ROC-
Burkina Faso Medical Project, Control
and Prevention Project for Intestinal
Parasites in São Tomé and Príncipe,
Strengthening the Management
of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Hype r t ens i on among Mob i l e
Populations in Southern Africa
Project in collaboration with PingTung
Christian Hospital, and the new
project titled Maternal and Infant
Health Care Improvement Project
in the Kingdom of Swaziland in
collaboration with Chiayi Christian
Hospital. For the Pacific Islands,
projects include the Mental Health
Care System Enhancement Project
in Fiji carried out in collaboration with
Mackay Memorial Hospital. For Latin
America and the Caribbean, projects
include the Capacity Building Project
for the Prevention and Control of
Chronic Renal Failure in Belize and
Health Information Management
Efficiency Enhancement Project in
Paraguay carried out in collaboration
with Far Eastern Memorial Hospital
and Cathay General Hospital,
respectively.
For example, the Mental Health
Care System Enhancement Project
in Fiji targets several issues, such
as the lack of mental healthcare
resources and epidemiological data.
Patients of mental illness are also
severely stigmatized, which further
compounds the work load of medical
institutions.
Hence, the TaiwanICDF worked
with Mackay Memorial Hospital to
propose this project with aims to build
up the necessary competences of
mental healthcare and nursing teams
in Fiji, strengthen mental healthcare
functions, and raise the awareness of
medical personnel and the general
public on mental health issues. The
project is jointly developed by the
Fiji government, Taiwan’s Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, and Mackay
Memorial Hospital. The TaiwanICDF
will dispatch an overseas project
manager and rely on the expertise
and experiences of Mackay Memorial
Hospital to gradually improve Fiji’s
mental healthcare profession through
capacity building. Measures include
training seed instructors needed
to support the project and offering
consultation services.
In addition to public health and
medicine projects, the TaiwanICDF
implemented a number of Healthcare
Personnel Training Programs that
integrated resources from public
and private departments, arranging
for project personnel to receive
customized training programs
and courses in Taiwan. To improve
the effectiveness of the training
programs, we also interacted with
trainees and partnering hospitals
to ensure that trainees gained the
necessary benefits through training
while providing the hospitals with
relevant feedback and suggestions.
In the future, the TaiwanICDF will
continue to establish links to various
resources in order to maximize the
synergy of our assistance projects.
To improve the quality of medical services in Paraguay, the TaiwanICDF not only assists in the
installation of IT infrastructures in hospitals, but also promotes e-learning courses and facilitates the
establishment of medical management systems.
Change 2
Integrating public and private resources to strengthen medical
systems of partner countries