Po-Han Lee, Institute of Health Policy and Management, National Taiwan University

This symposium critically interrogates the potential, challenges, and limitations of applying a human rights-based approach to care policies and practices. As a latecomer democracy and a welfare state, Taiwan’s care policies, examined against international human rights standards, show diverse, sometimes contradictory, practices across areas and populations.

In “Late Initiation of Prenatal Care in Taiwan: Why Are Rural Residents Behind?”, Ching-Ching Lin and Tung-Hsien Wu analyse urban-rural disparities in prenatal care and identify factors (lower socio-demographics, higher behavioural risks, and lower specialist availability) as major causes for rural women, revealing the gap in universal health coverage.

In “The Ethics of Healthy Ageing-Centric Long-Term Care Systems: Using Taiwan as an Illustrative Case”, Ming-Jui Yeh and Yu-Chun Hsieh explore the ethical
foundations of healthy ageing in long-term care systems, addressing utilitarianism, agency, self-reliance, and self-restraint, while considering objections related to intergenerational injustice, ageism, and excessive individual responsibility.

In “Seeking the Right Ways of Care: Research on Tuberculosis and its Control in
Taiwan”, Chen-I Kuan investigates tuberculosis patients and their families’ experiences, highlighting their underrepresentation in developed nations. She employs the concept of “biocitizenship” to critique health governance’s neglect and its impact on equitable care.

In “Evidence-Making Harm Reduction: Chemsex Healthcare and Community Service in Taiwan”, Poyao Huang considers tensions between community-focused chemsex care and medical science-informed harm reduction. His ethnography reveals inconsistencies in care practices driven by differing epistemologies despite their alignment with human rights norms.

The symposium reflects discrepancies between diversified yet inconsistent human rights-based, person-centred approaches in care policy design and implementation across regimes.

Papers:

• Ching-Ching Claire Lin & Tung-Hsien Wu: Late Initiation of Prenatal Care in Taiwan: Why Are Rural Residents Behind?
• Ming-Jui Yeh, Yu-Chun Hsieh & Chong-Min Su: The Ethics of Healthy Ageing-Centric Long-Term Care Systems: Using Taiwan as An Illustrative Case.
• Chen-I Kuan: Seeking the Right Ways of Care: Research on Tuberculosis and its Control in Taiwan.
• Poyao Huang: Evidence-Making Harm Reduction: Chemsex Healthcare and Community Service in Taiwan.

Discussants:

Emily Nicholls, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Global Health, University College London

Hildegard Theobald, Professor, Department of Organizational Gerontology, University of Vechta