Social determinants of health in Taiwan

Tackling health inequalities between and within countries has become one of the most stimulating challenges for public policy throughout the world, and Taiwan should be no exception. Taiwan has achieved a “health miracle” in the last half of the twentieth century. The life expectancy at birth has increased for males and females, respectively, from 57 and 61 years in 1952 to 75 and 81 in 2006; and degenerative diseases and injury has replaced acute infectious diseases as dominant health problems.
National health insurance is Taiwan’s another pride. On March 1, 1995, Taiwan launched a compulsory universal health insurance. Following the implementation of the National Health Insurance, the access of low socioeconomic groups to health care has been substantially improved and the overall pace of decline in premature mortality accelerated, particularly from causes amenable to health care.
Yet, different socioeconomic groups of people in Taiwan have not equally shared the health achievements, and the universal health insurance is an important but not a sufficient strategy for the reduction of health inequalities in Taiwan. In this presentation, I will illustrate many solid facts of social inequalities in health in Taiwan. Like other countries in the world, Taiwan has to go upstream to tackle the fundamental causes of health inequalities such as income, work and unemployment, education, and early life. In reality, Taiwan needs strong political will as well as more research and communication to increase public awareness and to develop evidence-based strategies for the reduction of socioeconomic inequalities in health.