國際衛生合作是發展援助的重要一環；台灣近年來雖然官方與民間都付出相當的努力，但是國際合作計畫的規模和深度與我國的經濟發展程度不成比例。本文介紹發展援助的理論背景，尤其著重人權在其中的核心地位。接著探討四個影響我國目前國際衛生合作之因素，包括我國在全球經濟中的地位不明、官方發展對外援助與外交議程之混淆、國際空間壓縮、以及合作計畫的去政治化。由於我國對國際發展援助缺少討論與共識，政府因而缺乏整體策略。進而，作者建議我國應謹慎評估國際間對官方發展援助的概念，並參考國際間既有的發展架構，以促進國人客觀地檢視我國對外援助政策。作者建議，除應盡早參與國際討論，以理解千禧年發展目標2015年階段結束後的議程，並應考慮以人權取徑（human rights-based approach）為我國規劃和評估國際發展合作計畫的參考座標。

International health cooperation is an important component of development assistance. Although both the governmental and nongovernmental sectors have made significant efforts in the past, the magnitude and depth of Taiwan's international cooperation programs have not matched its economic achievement. In this article the authors first describe the theoretical background of international development assistance, emphasizing the importance of human rights. This is followed by an analysis of the four factors which may the outlook for current international health cooperation: uncertainty about Taiwan's position in the global economy, the link between Official Development Assistance and the diplomatic agenda, limited international opportunities, and the apolitical nature of assistance projects. There has been limited discussion, let alone consensus, about Taiwan's participation in international development assistance, and this has resulted in the lack of an overall strategy. The authors suggest that Taiwan should calibrate its position and strategies against international frameworks for international cooperation in order to facilitate an objective assessment of the country's development assistance. In addition to preparing for participation in the post-2015 agenda, Taiwan should take a human rights-based approach as the basis for the design and evaluation of programs in international cooperation.