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Plans and Programs
The public health policies in the Taiwan area are mainly formulated
by the Department of Health 衛生署 (DOH). In fiscal 2001, three primary
plans and ten secondary programs were drawn up under the directions
of the Executive Yuan and the Department of Health in order to improve
the health conditions of the people and the efficiency of the public
health care system. The three primary plans are: National Health
Insurance IC Card 健保IC卡實施計畫, Fourth Phase Medical Care Network 醫療網第四期計畫,
the Development of National Health Research Institute國家衛生研究院發展計畫.
The ten programs, respectively, to be carried out according to schedule
are: the Management Plan for the Control of Betel Nut Problem 檳榔問題管理方案,
the Second Term Reinforcement Plan for the Control of TB 結核病防治第二期計畫,
the Three-year Project for Long-term Care for the Old Age 老人長期照護三年計畫,
the Second Term Program for the Control of AIDS 後天免疫缺乏症候群第二期計畫,
the Project for Cancer Screening Community Service 癌症社區到點篩檢服務計畫,
the Three-year Project for the Development of Community Health Care
社區健康營造三年計畫, and the Human-used Vaccines Production Project 人用疫苗自製計畫,
Contagious Diseases Prevention Project 全國傳染病防治計畫, Third Term Project
of New Family Planning 新家庭計畫三期計畫, Project of Medical Services in
Mountain Areas and Offshore Islands 山地離島醫療服務計畫. |
Shifting demographic patterns and changes in modern lifestyles have affected health
care in Taiwan. The aging of the population has highlighted pension issues and
long-term care for the elderly. The influx of 329,612 foreign laborers has exacerbated
the problem of providing health care for foreign workers. Serious pollution and
smoking problems have triggered a high rate of lung cancer, especially in the
urban areas of Taipei, Kaohsiung, Keelung 基隆, and Tainan. Industrial development
and the growth of urban traffic have resulted in an alarming rate of occupational
and traffic accidents. Of the 10,515 fatal accidents recorded in 2000, 5,534 (or
52.63 percent) were transportation-related, constituting the leading cause of
death for people under the age of 44 in this category. More than 97 percent of
the fatalities (5,420 persons) were due to motorbike-related traffic accidents.
A major youth health concern that has arisen is the unprecedented number of students
using amphetamines, FM2, and MDMA. Health authorities are also concerned about
the sanitation standards of Taiwan's many unregulated eateries, roadside stalls,
lunch box caterers, and galleries of food vendors.
Overall, the control of infectious diseases in the ROC has greatly improved.
Forty years ago, acute infectious diseases were the number one killer in the
Taiwan area. Today, they are no longer among the top ten causes of death in
Taiwan. Bubonic plague, smallpox, and cholera were all eradicated long ago and
not a single case of rabies has been discovered since 1959. In 1965, the World
Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations declared malaria nonexistent
in Taiwan. Other infectious diseases such as diphtheria, pertussis, neonatal
tetanus, poliomyelitis, Japanese encephalitis, and tuberculosis are now under
strict control. Major immunization drives in 1995 focused on eradicating poliomyelitis,
measles, congenital rubella, and neonatal tetanus. In 1998, a pioneering plan
was initiated that provided free flu vaccinations to senior citizens 65 years
or older.
The economic prosperity of the Taiwan area has brought greater access to health
care resources and enabled the government to launch the National Health Insurance
全民健康保險 (NHI) program, which officially began on March 1, 1995. By December 2000,
over 96.16 percent of Taiwan's population, or 21.40 million persons, were insured
under the program.
The health situation in Taiwan has made impressive gains over the past several
decades. For example, average life expectancy from 1951 to 2000 has increased
from 53.38 years to 72.63 years for males, and from 56.33 years to 78.30 years
for females. The death rate dropped from 18.15 per 1,000 persons in 1947 to
5.61 per 1,000 persons in 2000, and the infant mortality rate also dropped from
44.71 per 1,000 live births in 1952 to a low of 4.8 per 1,000 in 1993. However,
in 1996 infant mortality increased to 6.66 mainly due to the implementation
of a new, more efficient nationwide registration system for reporting newborns.
In 1999, the rate dropped again to 6.07, and then to 5.86 in 2000.
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