According to Watt, Taiwan's rapid economic and social development over the past decades resulted from "very good management of its healthcare system."

"Without a healthy population, we can't even begin to have national development, " he said in an interview with the Central News Agency.

Taiwan's earlier local political and medical leaders had the vision to build a structure in which medicine and healthcare could develop, he said.

However, although Taiwan took the lead among many developed countries in the area of healthcare, it did not receive the attention it deserved, he noted.

Watt said that as a developing country that has one of the world's best healthcare systems, Taiwan certainly has valuable experiences to share with the rest of the world. This is one of the reasons why he chose to edit the book titled "Health Care and National Development in Taiwan, 1950-2000," he explained.

Taiwan can provide assistance to other countries that have only basic health systems, said Watt, whose book highlights Taiwan's achievements in health care.

"I encourage the leadership here to take a more long-range view, not just providing emergency relief and reconstruction, but also bringing their expertise to enable the creation of a healthcare system that promotes rapid social development, " he urged, naming the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos which he said do not have such expertise.

Watt said that in Cambodia, non-governmental organizations do all the things the government should but cannot do because of a lack of expertise.

He suggested that Taiwan can help these countries by providing education and training programs and helping teenagers "at risk" of becoming victims in the sex trade.

"As long as the goodwill exists, (you don't) have to go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Watt said.

Non-governmental organizations, such as the Tzu Chi Foundation and the Taipei-based Red Cross Society of Republic of China, should be encouraged to help these countries build long-term healthcare systems, he stressed.

On the question of other areas of health in which Taiwan can provide assistance to less developed countries, Watt mentioned decent sanitation and the prevention of infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

He also said that the high maternal mortality rate in such countries "can be easily reduced with better management of childbirth."

The book edited by Watt is a collection of 44 essays on Taiwan's healthcare development by more than twenty local and American experts in the field of health.

Watt, who visited Taiwan for the first time in 1977, has been observing teh country's healthcare system for about 30 years.

Born in the United Kingdom, he formerly served as the executive director of the American Bureau for Medical Advancement in China and is now the vice president of the organization.