JOINT RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE APPLICATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA FOR OBSERVER STATUS AT THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

WHEREAS,  good health is essential to every citizen of the world, and access to the highest standards of health information and services is necessary to improve public health; and

WHEREAS,  the first chapter of the World Health Organization, or WHO, charter sets the goal of attaining the highest possible level of health for all persons; and

WHEREAS,  Taiwan's achievements in the field of health are substantial, including that Taiwan was the first nation to eradicate polio and provide children with hepatitis B vaccinations, that Taiwan possesses one of the highest life expectancy levels in Asia and maternal and infant mortality rates comparable to those of Western countries and that Taiwan has succeeded in the eradication of such infectious diseases as cholera, smallpox and the plague; and

WHEREAS,  Taiwan's population of 23,000,000 people is larger than the populations of 3/4 of the member states already in WHO; and

WHEREAS,  with the potential of the cross-border spread of diseases, such as the human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis, malaria, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and avian influenza, it is crucial for all countries, including Taiwan, to have direct and unobstructed access to information and assistance from WHO in order to limit successfully the spread of various infectious diseases; and

WHEREAS,  the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Taiwanese counterpart agencies have enjoyed close collaboration on a wide range of public health issues; and

WHEREAS,  in 2002, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives authorized the Secretary of State to endorse observer status for Taiwan at the World Health Assembly, and the United States House of Representatives repeated its endorsement in 2006; now, therefore, be it

That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Legislature now assembled in the First Regular Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this opportunity to commend Taiwan's efforts to improve world health and support its efforts to gain observer status in the World Health Organization; and be it further

That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States; to United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt; to Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland; and to Director-General K. T. Yang of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston, Massachusetts.