Secretariat, Taipei City Government

Despite the COVID-19 epidemic’s rapid global spread, Taiwan’s success in controlling the pandemic has drawn attention from the international community. Therefore, many countries are eager to learn from Taiwan, and Prof. Kenneth Hartigan-Go, who is the Philippines’ former Undersecretary for Health Regulation, Department of Health, and is now the Head of the Asian Institute of Management, hosted a webinar on April 24, 2020. He invited professionals from Taiwan: Dr. Ho, Mei-Shang, Adjunct Research Fellow at Academia Sinica, and Ambassador Chou, Tai-Chu, spokesperson for the Taipei City Government, to share experiences in the fight against COVID-19.
 
Dr. Ho had been invited to work as a consultant for the health department of the Asian Development Bank in Manila for 1 month. She delivered a speech on Taiwan’s experience in combating the COVID-19 epidemic in the Department of Health, Republic of the Philippines, and was praised by many Filipino officials. In this webinar, Dr. Ho analyzed risk communication in the pandemic and appropriate measures for the future.
 
Ambassador Chou shared Taiwan’s practices and advantages in the battle against COVID-19 and how the local government implemented policies to cooperate with the central government. He also invited representatives from the Department of Health, Department of Civil Affairs, Department of Information and Tourism, and Taipei City Foreign and Disabled Labor Office to join the webinar Q&A session.
  
This webinar was open for participation by locals in the Philippines. Approximately 1500 participants joined the webinar, including officials from the Department of Health, Republic of the Philippines, officials from Taipei’s sister city Manila and Quezon, medical personnel, and students majoring in public health and medicine-related subjects. This webinar was not only a platform for the Philippines to learn from Taiwan’s experience and measures against COVID-19 but also an opportunity to enhance cooperation between Taipei and cities in the Philippines.