In its 4th year since the transformation and 12th year since its inception, the “Global Health Forum in Taiwan” convenes leaders from the worlds of research, policy, and practice to brainstorm and share findings that address the various health and welfare challenges that beset our world. Responding to the 17 goals of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030 and the long-term target of reducing pre-mature mortality due to non-communicable disease by one-thirds in the year 2030, the theme of the “2016 Global Health Forum in Taiwan” was proposed as “Toward 2030: A Global Health Agenda”, featuring thematic discussions on topics relevant to the SDGs, including health inequity, governance, gender and race-specific issues, age-friendly healthcare, non-communicable diseases and impacts of climate changes on health; in addition to the discussions on SDG, the 2016 Forum also feature additional discussions on various public health issues like hepatitis prevention, cancer prevention, universal health coverage, drug accessibility and vaccine management. A key feature of this year’s forum included experience sharing from the South Eastern Asian nations on medical academic and healthcare partnership.

This year the Forum has invited 52 of the world’s distinguished health care organization leaders, health ministers, officials and experts. Specially invited guests included world leaders in medical and public health organizations, such as Sir Michael Marmot, President of the World Medical Association and Director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College of London, United Kingdom; Ms. Holly Wong, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Prof. Martin McKee, President of the European Public Health Association; Prof. Michael Moore, President, World Federation of Public Health Associations; Dr. Camara Jones, President of the American Public Health Association; Dr. Bettina Borisch, CEO of the World Federation of Public Health Associations; Dr. Otmar Kloiber, Secretary General of the World Medical Association; Mr. David Stewart, Consultant of Nursing and Health Policy, International Council of Nurses, and many more leaders from medical and public health organizations.

 Continuing on the tradition that begins in 2013, the Forum also organized a team of dedicated and enthusiastic young scholars from Taiwan and the world. Five young scholars from the European Health Forum Gastein and fifteen brilliant Taiwanese scholars from the fields of medicine and public health worked together to deliver newsletters and post messages on social media network, acting as rapporteurs to broadcast important insights and findings from the Forum to the rest of the world. The two-day Forum was attended by 900 participants from the fields of academia, medicine, public health and government sectors.