USAID funding cuts could impact Taiwan's health system: Doctor

Taipei, March 2 (CNA) Cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced by the Donald Trump administration last month could impact Taiwan's public health system, which "relies" on internationally collected data, according to a doctor who recently attended a health symposium in the United States.

Chiang Kuan-yu (姜冠宇), a physician at Taipei City Hospital's Zhongxing Branch, told CNA on Sunday that USAID cuts would reduce information sharing between U.S. health agencies and international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), which in turn could negatively impact Taiwan.

Chiang suggested that Taiwan relies on data from the WHO for monitoring, for instance, influenza epidemics.

"Currently, the WHO is not receiving any influenza data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)," Chiang said, adding that this state of affairs is "very dangerous for America and the world."

Chiang said he attended a health symposium in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13 where Loyce Pace, former assistant secretary for global affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, warned that international epidemic prevention networks were facing a crisis as a result of the announced cuts.

"Taiwan can no longer rely on the U.S. for public health information," and must work harder to participate in international organizations for the sake of Taiwan's public health, Chiang told CNA.

Speaking on the topic, Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧), spokesperson for the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC), said that although Taiwan is not a member of the WHO, there are other "friendly countries" besides the U.S. that are willing to exchange epidemic prevention information.

Taiwan's epidemic monitoring is a "multi-channel" model, and the Taiwan CDC will "continue international exchanges" under this model, Tseng said.

In late February, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration would eliminate more than 90 percent of USAID's foreign aid contracts, totaling more than US$58 billion, as part of the president's "America First" agenda.