Upon the Economist Group’s invitation, Vice Minister Tsai Sen-Tian of the Ministry of Health and Welfare led his team to attend the “Health Care Forum War on Cancer 2017: Affordable Cancer Care in Asia” on March 30. Besides sharing with other attendees Taiwan’s policies regarding cancer care as a keynote speaker for “Keynote Panel 1: Priorities in Funding and Delivering Cancer Care,” Vice Minister Tsai also visited several public and private health organizations in Singapore, as well as the Biopolis of Singapore, in order to make the most out of this trip and support the government’s New Southward Policy. He hopes that these meetings and conferences will help strengthen cooperation with other Asia-Pacific countries in medical affairs, stimulate more cross-regional collaborations, and promote people’s health and well-being in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Economist’s War on Cancer 2017 Forum was held in Singapore, gathering more than 150 experts from 20 countries, including health ministers and policymakers, directors of cancer prevention organizations, heads of businesses, and scholars. The forum started with the Cancer Moonshot Plan of the United States and went on to discuss the need to integrate global resources for cancer care across industries, governments, and academia. The discussion primarily focused on how effectively funds are budgeted, obtained, regulated, and spent for cancer care (ranging from prevention, clinical diagnosis, therapy, and hospice care) between countries in Asia and between public and private sectors in each country. Other topics also included how to provide affordable and accessible cancer care and a sustainable finance system. The discussion was also extended to the issues of vaccination for cancers and hospice care, etc.

Also worthy of note is Cancer Moonshot Executive Director Gregory Simon’s recognition of Taiwan as a major player in the Project and the important contribution made by its genome research. At the same time, Vice Minister Tsai shared with the forum Taiwan’s Cancer Prevention Act (including the National Cancer Prevention Plan), the use of health and welfare surcharge of tobacco products as a source of finance for cancer prevention, the proportion of national health insurance budgeted for cancer, the three-generation health-insurance plan, and other general finance policies regarding the nation’s cancer care. Taiwan’s achievements in vaccination for hepatitis B and HPV were also acknowledged and praised by Director of Cancer Council NSW Karen Canfell and Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Sangita Reddy from India when they shared their success in HPV vaccination.

Singapore is an important trade partner of Taiwan. During this trip, Vice Minister Tsai also visited the Singapore Biopolis, a pioneer of biotechnology in the world. To create products of the highest quality, talents from around the world come to the Biopolis for research and innovation. The process of their product development, their methodology, and regulations can all serve as a model of reference for our healthcare policymaking.