Taiwan is teaming up with the United States to hold a two-day conference on dengue fever. It’s set to take place on Monday in the southern city of Tainan, which is one ground zero for this year’s dengue fever outbreak. Day two of the conference will take place in Taipei on Tuesday.
The foreign ministry says that 19 experts from ten countries which have been affected by dengue fever are in Taiwan for the conference. Those countries include Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, India and Papua New Guinea.
This is the second time that Taiwan and the US are co-hosting a medical conference under the Global Cooperation and Training Framework. The two countries held a conference on MERS back in August.
A number of high-ranking officials are set to speak at the opening ceremony on Monday, including Health Minister Chiang Been-huang, and Robert Forden, who is the deputy director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). AIT is the de facto US embassy in the absence of official diplomatic relations.
The foreign ministry says the conference highlights the two counties’ efforts to establish a global public health network of partners and Taiwan’s efforts to become a provider of international humanitarian assistance.