WHO affirms Taiwan's contribution

A Taiwanese medical mission's efforts to help Malawi control the spread of HIV/AIDS was recognized in the July issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported July 16. It marked the first time the WHO acknowledged in one of its official publications the contributions and achievements Taiwan had made to global health since the nation was forced to leave the world health body in 1972, Peter Chang, director-general of the Bureau of International Cooperation under the Department of Health, said July 25.

Titled "True outcomes from patients on antiretroviral therapy who are 'lost to follow-up' in Malawi," the article introduced in detail the procedures, methods and results that the Taiwan Medical Mission in Malawi used to treat local AIDS patients. According to the Bulletin, the medical mission sponsored by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Foundation and managed by Pingtung Christian Hospital "is based in Mzuzu Central Hospital in northern Malawi, and is cooperating with staff, peripheral hospitals and Malawi's health ministry to fight HIV and AIDS."

PTCH, which was founded by foreign missionary doctors in Pingtung City in 1953, started operation of the medical mission in Malawi, one of Taiwan's African allies, in July 2002, according to the hospital's bilingual Web site. PTCH claimed to have 700 beds and adequate resources to back up the overseas medical mission.

Chang said the PTCH team provided medical treatment and antiretroviral drugs to Malawian patients at local hospitals. It had extensively mobilized medical staff, volunteers and AIDS patients with controlled conditions to offer treatment in 66 local clinics, which could offer care to more than 40,000 AIDS patients, he added.

This represented a new strategy initiated by the Taiwanese mission to better deal with the epidemic in view of the African country's inadequate infrastructure, Chang explained. Passively waiting at hospitals for patients was not a good way to track long-term patients and was ineffective in preventing and controlling spread of the disease. It was better for medical staff to seek out patients in need by working within local communities, he said.

The mission also launched the first fingerprint-identification system for AIDS patients in Malawi, which was also its first use by a Taiwanese medical mission anywhere in the world, Chang said. Using patients' fingerprints, the system digitized their medical information to ensure follow-up treatment, avoid improper use of medicine and carry out medical monitoring. This was a key point in a country that did not have an ID system, he added.

This use of electronic medical histories, which are common in Taiwan's clinics and hospitals, was a new development in Malawi and greatly improved efficiency in following up on AIDS patients, Chang claimed. The experiences of the medical mission in helping to bring the HIV/AIDS epidemic under control in Malawi could be applicable to other countries, he said.