JAPAN'S FOREIGN POLICY AND GLOBAL HEALTH
DIET ROUNDTABLE SERIES
2023–Present
In December 2023, subsequent to Japan’s presidency of the 2023 G7 in Hiroshima, JCIE launched a new Diet Roundtable Series on “Japan’s Foreign Policy and Global Health.”
This discussion series seeks to deepen Japanese parliamentarians’ understanding of global health issues ahead of Japan’s next presidency of the G7 in 2030, which is also the target year to achieve the SDGs. Each session gathers key Diet members from both the ruling and opposition parties who will lead the negotiation process toward 2030. The objective is to facilitate a discussion on global health as a critical issue in Japan’s foreign policy and for its national interests and to consider how Japan can promote effective international cooperation on global health.
Sessions to date:
- “Changing Global Health Financing Landscape” (March 2, 2024)
- Speaker: Christoph Benn, Director, Global Health Diplomacy, The Joep Lange Institute
- “The G7 and Japan’s Role in Global Health from the Perspective of International Politics” (December 7, 2023)
- Speaker: Hideaki Shiroyama, Professor of Public Administration at the Policy Alternatives Research Institute (Ex-Director), the Graduate School of Public Policy (the former Dean), the University of Tokyo
2018–2021
JCIE launched the “Global Health Diet Roundtable” series in 2018 as part of its Global Health and Human Security program. The aim of this program was to assist a bipartisan group of young and emerging Diet members to deepen their understanding of global health issues (e.g., the threat of infectious diseases, health system strengthening, and health financing) by offering regular briefings from experts on each topic in the hope that they would play a future leadership role in the global health field.
Between 2018 and 2021, JCIE held the following six sessions:
- “Evolution of America’s Bipartisan Support for Global Health” (September 6, 2018)
- Speaker: Mark Dybul, Co-Director, Center for Global Health
- “The Looming Problem of Antimicrobial Resistance” (December 21, 2018)
- Speaker: Kazuhiro Tateda, Professor of the Faculty of Medicine, Toho University; President, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases; President, Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology
- “Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)―The Japanese Expertise Needed Now” (June 11, 2019)
- Speakers: Kenji Hirayama, Executive Director of JAGntd and Professor, Department of Immunogenetics, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University; and Catherine Ohura, CEO, Global Health Innovative Technology Fund
- “Achieving the SDGs in Maternal and Child Health—The Global Financing Facility and Japan” (August 28, 2019)
- Speakers: Muhammad A. Pate, Director, Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF); Global Director, Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank Group; former Minister of State for Health, Nigeria; and Ikuo Takizawa, Deputy Director General, Human Development Department, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
- “Update on the Regional COVID-19 Situation” (April 21, 2020)
- Speaker: Takeshi Kasai, Regional Director, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific
- “Vaccine Diplomacy and Japan: What Is Needed Now?” (April 5, 2021)
- Speakers: Takeshi Kasai, Regional Director, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific; Kazuto Suzuki, Professor, School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo; and Masayuki Imagawa, President, Japan Vaccine Industry Association
PROGRAM NEWS
Global Health Diet Roundtable | Vaccine Diplomacy and Japan: What Is Needed Now?
On April 5, JCIE hosted its 6th Global Health Diet Roundtable, which was held online and attended by seven Diet members across multiple parties. Speakers discussed the current status of COVID-19 vaccine development around the world, background information on the vaccine development delays in Japan, and issues in the global COVID-19 response that Japan should address.
Global Health Diet Roundtable | Update on the Regional COVID-19 Situation
On April 21, JCIE held its Fifth Global Health Diet Roundtable where more than a dozen Diet members were briefed on the current global COVID-19 situation by World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Regional Director, Takeshi Kasai. Dr. Kasai highlighted the importance of more well-thought-out testing strategies as well as the need for international cooperation on the global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Global Health Diet Roundtable | Achieving the SDGs in Maternal and Child Health—The Global Financing Facility and Japan
JCIE held its 4th Global Health Diet Roundtable on the sidelines of the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7), convening six up-and-coming leaders of the Japanese Diet for a conversation with Dr. Muhammad Pate, Director of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF).
Global Health Diet Roundtable | Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)―The Japanese Expertise Needed Now
The 3rd Global Health Diet Roundtable was held in cooperation with the Japan Alliance on Global NTDs (JAGntd) and SDGs Promise Japan, and focused on the topic of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
Global Health Diet Roundtable | The Looming Problem of Antimicrobial Resistance
Dr. Kazuhiro Tateda of Toho University, who serves as president of both the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases and the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology, briefed eight legislators on the domestic and global issues involved with the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Global Health Diet Roundtable | Evolution of America’s Bipartisan Support for Global Health
JCIE’S inaugural Global Health Diet Roundtable convened six rising leaders in the Japanese Diet who are serving their first, second, or third terms, and it was organized as part of a roundtable series that is designed to engage up-and-coming legislators in discussions of global health and give them a chance to discuss key issues with domestic and international leaders in the field.