I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1794

Concerning the participation of Taiwan in the World Health Organization

(WHO).

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 13, 1999

Mr. BROWN of Ohio (for himself and Mr. CHABOT) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

A BILL

Concerning the participation of Taiwan in the World Health

Organization (WHO).

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. CONCERNING THE PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN

4 IN THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

5 (WHO).

6 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following

7 findings:

8 (1) Good health is a basic right for every citizen

9 of the world and access to the highest standards of
2

•HR 1794 IH

1 health information and services is necessary to help

2 guarantee this right.

3 (2) Direct and unobstructed participation in

4 international health cooperation forums and pro5 grams is therefore crucial, especially with today’s

6 greater potential for the cross-border spread of var7 ious infectious diseases such as AIDS.

8 (3) The World Health Organization (WHO) set

9 forth in the first chapter of its charter the objective

10 of attaining the highest possible level of health for

11 all people.

12 (4) In 1977, the World Health Organization es13 tablished ‘‘Health For All By The Year 2000’’ as its

14 overriding priority and reaffirmed that central vision

15 with the initiation of its ‘‘Health For All’’ renewal

16 process in 1995.

17 (5) Taiwan’s population of 21,000,000 people is

18 larger than that of 3/4 of the member states already

19 in the World Health Organization.

20 (6) Taiwan’s achievements in the field of health

21 are substantial, including one of the highest life ex22 pectancy levels in Asia, maternal and infant mor23 tality rates comparable to those of western countries,

24 the eradication of such infectious diseases as chol25 era, smallpox, and the plague, and the first to be rid
3

•HR 1794 IH

1 of polio and provide children with free hepatitis B

2 vaccinations.

3 (7) The World Health Organization was unable

4 to assist Taiwan with an outbreak of enterovirus 71

5 which killed 70 Taiwanese children and infected

6 more than 1,100 Taiwanese children in 1998.

7 (8) In recent years Taiwan has expressed a will8 ingness to assist financially or technically in WHO9 supported international aid and health activities, but

10 has ultimately been unable to render such assist11 ance.

12 (9) The World Health Organization allows ob13 servers to participate in the activities of the organi14 zation.

15 (10) The United States, in the 1994 Taiwan

16 Policy Review, declared its intention to support Tai17 wan’s participation in appropriate international or18 ganizations.

19 (11) In light of all of the benefits that Taiwan’s

20 participation in the World Health Organization

21 could bring to the state of health not only in Tai22 wan, but also regionally and globally, Taiwan and its

23 21,000,000 people should have appropriate and

24 meaningful participation in the World Health Orga25 nization.
4

•HR 1794 IH

1 (b) REPORT.—Not later than September 21, 1999,

2 the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Con3 gress on the efforts of the Secretary to fulfill the commit4 ment made in the 1994 Taiwan Policy Review to more

5 actively support Taiwan’s participation in international or6 ganizations, in particular the World Health Organization

7 (WHO).

Æ