Dean of the College of Public Health Chang-Chuan Chan headed a five-person delegation of NTU representatives in participating in the World Health Summit and annual conference of the M8 Alliance in Berlin from October 12-19. NTU is one of the 25 member organizations from 18 countries that make up the M8 Alliance.

The other members of the NTU delegation were Prof. Ya-Mei Chen of the College of Public Health's Institute of Health Policy and Management; Vice Director of the Department of Internal Medicine at NTU Hospital Wang-Huei Sheng; Director of Preventive Medicine at NTU Hospital Sharlene Shao-Yi Cheng; and Director of Health Promotion and Management Center at Taipei City Hospital Chih-Yuan Shih (who is a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy and Management).

One of the delegation's primary objectives in participating in the summit was to present together with the Kyoto University School of Public Health a research report during the summit's special session on long-term care and end-of-life care in aging societies. Dean Chan and Dean and Chairman of the Kyoto University School of Public Health Shunichi Fukuhara served as chairs for the session.

Among the speakers, NTU's Prof. Chen presented a report on joint Taiwanese-Japanese research on developing a framework for integration mechanisms for long-term care and its future development. Director Cheng and Dr. Jun Miyashita reported on advanced care planning research; Dean Fukuhara also took part in the presentation of this report. In the report, "Impact of ACP Policy on End-of-Life Care in Taiwan," Taipei City Hospital's Director Shih shared the hospital's experience with home-based hospice care.

Due to the audience's positive reaction to the presentation, NTU has decided that the summit to be held next year will include a workshop on advanced care planning, as well asreports on long-term care and end-of-life care.

Hélène Boisjoly, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montreal, Canada, was named Co-Chair of the World Health Summit Scientific Committee during the summit. She announced six key areas of global health that require action: (1) Commitment to strong and reliable governance; (2) commitment to ensure global health security; (3) commitment to healthy and resilient cities; (4) commitment to responsible approaches to big data; (5) commitment to research, innovation, and development; and (6) commitment to innovation and health systems strengthening in Africa.

While in Berlin, in addition to attending the World Health Summit, the five NTU representatives also paid a visit to Representative Chih-Wei Hsieh at the Taipei Representative Office in the Federal Republic of Germany. They consider Taiwan's medical and healthcare system to be a form of soft power that the nation would do well to develop further.

By adding the nation's voice and making contributions to the global health community, Taiwan can participate in international cooperation and exchange programs, carry out substantive diplomacy, and make preparations for its participation in the World Health Assembly in 2018.