AIT TELLS TAIWAN CDC ABOUT WHO/IHR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000990

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/RSP/TC
PLEASE PASS TO AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2015
TAGS: SENV TBIO TW ESTH
SUBJECT: AIT TELLS TAIWAN CDC ABOUT WHO/IHR

REF: A. MESERVE-PAAL E-MAIL OF 2/23

B. 2005 TAIPEI 00860

C. 2003 TAIPEI 02575

Classified By: AIT Director Douglas H. Paal, Reason: 1.4 (B/D)


1. (c) Summary. AIT delivered World Health
Organization/International Health Regulation (WHO/IHR) points
contained in refs A and B to Taiwan Center for Disease
Control (TCDC) Director-General Steven Kuo on Friday, March

4. While Kuo was unaware of the compromise to allow for
Taiwan's participation in the IHR process, he welcomed the
development as a positive turn of events and thanked AIT for
bringing them to his attention. Kuo also updated AIT on
Influenza, AIDS and TB issues in Taiwan and informed AIT of
his request for USCDC to send an advisor to TCDC. End
Summary.

WHO
---


2. (c) Econ Chief (accompanied by ESTOFF) delivered WHO/IHR
points contained in ref A to TCDC Director-General Steven Kuo
on March 4. The points used were the same as those delivered
to MOFA International Organizations Director-General John
Chen on February 24 (reported in ref B). Mr. Kuo thanked AIT
for sharing the points and for U.S. assistance in working out
a compromise to allow for Taiwan,s participation in the IHR
process. Kuo confirmed that the same points had been
delivered to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that AIT
would want him to brief the Department of Health Minister on
the visit. Despite the fact that the next step of the
agreement is for the WHO to contact Taiwan about an exchange
of letters, it was evident that this was the first Kuo had
heard of the compromise. In fact, Kuo was notably surprised
that Taiwan had agreed. He stated that the compromise
sounded very similar to the "four point" proposal Beijing had
offered last year, which Taiwan had found unacceptable.
Nonetheless, Kuo welcomed the compromise as a major and very
positive change in direction on this issue.

Flu
---


3. (c) ESTOFF also took the opportunity to raise questions
about recent media reports regarding several influenza deaths
involving Taiwan residents 24 years old and younger. Kuo
indicated that the increased media attention to influenza did
not indicate a significant worsening of the problem from
prior years. Instead, the increased media attention was
being fed by TCDC as part of an effort to maintain the
political will to fulfill Taiwan,s goals to both fund its
pandemic influenza preparation plans and to fund the
manufacturing of vaccines in Taiwan. It also has been used
as a method to publicize Taiwan,s significant advancements
in flu research. Taiwan is now able to test and identify
exactly what types of influenza strains are affecting the
population (data that will be beneficial to Taiwan in
manufacturing vaccines). With this new capability, Taiwan
has learned that many of its influenza deaths have been
caused by the Hong Kong B strain of influenza. Because the
Hong Kong B strain is typically quite mild, the strain was
not included in this year's vaccinations. As a result, even
people who have received flu vaccines are vulnerable.

HIV/AIDS
--------------


4. (c) ESTOFF asked for further information on media reports
about a recent rapid rise in the incidence of HIV/AIDS in
Taiwan. Kuo informed AIT that there has been a 76 percent
increase in HIV/AIDS cases from last year (an additional
1,700 cases) and he expected another 50 percent increase this
year. He confirmed that the increase was largely among IV
drug users in the prison population. He revealed that part
of the problem is due to TCDC's inability to influence
policies across government agencies. He noted that there is
currently a law, which prohibits prisons from putting people
with HIV/AIDS in jail. As a result, many convicted criminals
with HIV/AIDS are sent back to their communities. He claims
that this is a problem that is being worked on, but that will
likely take time to resolve.

TB
--

5. (sbu) Kuo also brought up Taiwan,s recent decision to use
World TB Day (March 24) to announce a new campaign to cut
Taiwan,s exceptionally high rate of TB (see ref D) in half
within 10 years. He informed AIT that former TCDC Director
General Su Yi-ren has agreed to be TCDC's TB advisor. He
thanked AIT for its significant role in making this issue a
priority by continually raising the issue with health
officials in Taiwan.

TCDC/USCDC
--------------


6. (u) Kuo told AIT that he has made it a priority to
maintain the extremely positive cooperation between TCDC and
US Centers for Disease Control (USCDC) established during
SARS. To this end, he has sent a letter to USCDC requesting
that USCDC Associate Director for Global Health, Dr. Michael
Mallison be assigned to Taiwan to serve as an advisor to Kuo,
although he did not explain how this might be arranged. Dr.
Mallison assisted Taiwan decades ago in addressing a polio
epidemic. Since that time, Dr. Mallison has assisted Taiwan
with epidemiological training programs. AIT also greatly
benefited from the outstanding cooperation between the two
CDCs during Taiwan,s SARS outbreak and welcomes continued
positive collaboration between the two sides.
PAAL