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The First Step Toward the World: the NCCU X WHO Simulation

Date : 2021-01-13 Department : International College of Innovation
【Article by International College of Innovation】
On December 30th, the NCCU X WHO Simulation was held in the National Chengchi University Dah-Hsian Seetoo Library Conference Room. This simulation's primary purpose is to understand how the world should deal with worldwide health problems by simulating the World Health Organization (WHO)'s conference. The National Chenchi University (NCCU)'s students took the rule of ambassadors of each country and director-general of WHO. The NCCU X WHO Simulation's brochure states the main discussion of this simulation. "Starting from December 1st, people in Thailand have been infected one by one. The Ministry of Health in Thailand sensed the unusual situation, starting to take some actions. Countries nearby have been aware of the situation as well." In this simulation, the countries where the students were responsible were Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, and the United States, the major countries of the issue. The students in charge of WHO played the role of conducting the simulation as members of WHO. The simulation consisted of four phases and began when Professor Han-His Liu introduced the event in general. Natalia Hu, a student of NCCU BA, hosted the conference.

The NCCU X WHO Simulation's essential point was how students stated their respective countries' opinions realistically and diplomatically about the current situation. Alice, who took the role of the Minister of National Health and Family Planning Commission in China, said that the most challenging thing while preparing for this conference was considering what China would have thought and what attitude it would have been taken on the issue. In fact, based on reality, when students talked about vaccines, they divided states into countries that can purchase vaccines or not and countries that can help other countries or not. For example, in this NCCU X WHO Simulation, China and the United States were two countries that can afford vaccines' prices and help others. Furthermore, there were continued disagreements between India, China, and Thailand regarding the possibility of implementing travel bans. The students' efforts to reflect reality as much as possible in the conference were revealed in the context. During the conference, the moderator gave countries break times to made up their statements and negotiated with others. As a result, the countries that participated in the conference were finally able to come up with a resolution on the topic. The students who took on the roles as officers from WHO called for continuing international collaboration, implementing fourteen-day quarantine periods in a global video conference statement on travel restrictions based on this resolution.

Professor Han-His Liu, who was in charge of the NCCU X WHO Simulation, was asked of the most crucial factor for students to learn at the event. The professor mentioned earlier the situation in Taiwan, which is not currently officially joined WHO. "Later, when Taiwan become a formal member of WHO and have to negotiate with other countries in the international community, I hope our students can be negotiators who do not only carry out their arguments but also understand the situation in other countries and produce great results for everyone," he said.

Samke, a student of the National Yang-Ming University Public Health, was very optimistic about the NCCU X WHO Simulation. When I asked her that such simulations would be helpful for real-world problems, she strongly agreed. "The future is what the current generation of students is creating, and if there is time to understand other countries through these activities, we will be able to come up with a better solution in the future when there is a pandemic like Covid-19," she said. She also mentioned, "Like Taiwan now, there is a high possibility that developed countries that can help other countries may not know how actually to help others. Understanding and recognizing the differences through these activities is the first step toward providing more practical help."

Dr. Allen Chia-En Lien, former Ministry of Health attache for Taiwan to Africa and deputy chief executive of RCEP-YM, gave us a general review. He said he was very impressed with the level of in-depth conversation related to the current issue, Covid-19. He also gave students a lot of advice about WHO conferences, saying, "There will be much more negotiations in the actual WHO conferences, and it is necessary to mention the correlation with the current issue and politics, not just list events." Dr. Steve Hsu-Sung KUO, president of the National Yang-Ming University and former director-general of Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control, who gave the second general review, was surprised at students’s outstanding performance with commendable recognitions. He also gave out orders and help to moderate the conference to make sure the messages were properly delivered, and facilitate the flow of communications among speakers.

There was a question and answer session at the end. NCCU students asked passionately about WHO conferences and public health issues. One of the students asked what Dr. Allen Chia-En LIen thinks about the public allegations toward WHO. He answered there is no clear evidence that WHO is corrupted; however, WHO is one of the underfunded organizations. Through the attitude of WHO during the Ebola Virus and this Covid-19, he said we can realize why a good leader should be chosen.
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