Health is integral to quality of life, which is why the World Health Organization (WHO) considers the highest attainable standard of wellness to be a fundamental human right. According to the WHO, enshrining health as a right means related protections apply “equally, to all people, everywhere, without distinction.” Both state and nonstate actors bear a responsibility to uphold the principle of nondiscrimination, which notably encompasses freedom from profiling based on national origin. Yet the WHO, one of the biggest advocates of incorporating the right to health into international law, continues to shut Taiwan out of its activities, mechanisms and meetings. This exclusion not only runs counter to the organization’s professed beliefs, but also hinders the country’s ability to safeguard its 23 million people.

By definition rights do not need to be earned, and even if they did, Taiwan would have long since demonstrated its worthiness for a seat at the WHO table. The country has one of the best health systems in the world, ranking an impressive second out of 89 countries and territories evaluated in CEOWORLD magazine’s 2021 Health Care Index. The government-run National Health Insurance covers all citizens and legal residents and can be used at roughly 92 percent of medical institutions nationwide, including all hospitals, 92 percent of primary clinics and 82 percent of pharmacies. Premiums are based on income, with payments divided between the insured, employers and the government. Combined with low copayments and additional subsidies for disadvantaged groups, the system ensures comprehensive, high-quality care is accessible to the entire population. The country is more than willing to share its domestic successes and best practices with international partners to help them enhance their own systems.

Despite being locked out of the world’s preeminent health body, Taiwan seizes every possible opportunity to engage in related multilateral exchanges. Last August, then-Deputy Health Minister Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) represented the country at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy in Bangkok, Thailand, and shared key areas for investment to better prepare for future pandemics. Two months later, the 2022 Global Health and Welfare Forum in Taiwan invited experts to discuss addressing the world’s greatest health challenges through international unity, with over 1,000 people taking part online or inperson from Taipei City.

At the same time, the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), Taiwan’s foremost foreign aid organization, carries out a range of health missions in diplomatic allies and friendly nations. A TaiwanICDF project to enhance maternal and infant care in the Kingdom of Eswatini, for example, in selected hospitals the project has reduced the early neonatal mortality rate significantly.

The country has also opened its doors to people seeking care that is unavailable or unaffordable at home. In 2019 alone, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down global travel, over 400,000 overseas individuals sought medical treatment in Taiwan. The country reopened to international patients in March 2021 and to all tourists in October 2022.

Health transcends borders, and Taiwan has thoroughly proven its readiness to help safeguard the well-being of world citizens. It is well past time for the WHO to acknowledge the hypocrisy of the continued ban and admit that the full inclusion of every stakeholder is the only way to attain its overarching goal of Health For All. To prove that well-being is truly a universal right, let Taiwan in. Members of the global community only stand to gain.