Haiti, one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, was hit by a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake to the south of the capital Port-au-Prince on January 13th. According to Haiti government officials, it was the worst natural disaster in two centuries, bringing sustained serious damage to residents and property. At least 210,000 people were reported dead, and over 120 million were affected by the quake.

Humanitarian Aid Pledged by Taiwan’s Government and Medical Societies

In such cases, international cooperation is required immediately, and Taiwan responded quickly to the crisis with numerous humanitarian efforts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Department of Health, Executive Yuan (DOH), dispatched Taiwan International Health Action (TaiwanIHA) and a medical team assembled from National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Hsin Chu General Hospital and Taipei Hospital of DOH to Port-au-Prince on January 26th to join relief efforts. A rescue team of 23 specialists from the National Fire Agency of the Ministry of the Interior arrived in Haiti on January 16th to begin its work. The Taiwan Red Cross Society also organized a search and rescue team with 33 professionals to answer the call for aid. In addition, Taiwanroot Medical Peace Corp. also sent a medical team consisting of 66 members to Haiti to perform relief work.

The Centers for Disease Control sent Dr. Bing-Sheng Ho, chief of the Global Outbreak Assistance Corps of Taiwan (GOACT) to Haiti on January 19th to evaluate the necessary conditions for relief and disease control in the aftermath of the earthquake. The mission was to get to know the operating details of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and staff from the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as to meet with Dr. Alex Larsen, the Minister of Health of Haiti; and Dr. Jean Hugues Henrys, vice chairman of the Haiti National Council of Health. In order to get involved in international collaboration regarding public health affairs, Dr. Ho also joined the daily Health Cluster Meeting held by the Haitian Ministry of Health and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), along with several international organizations and representatives from medical teams all over the world.