US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI990

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