Expectations have been growing within the international community for Japan to make a greater contribution in the field of global health. One area in which Japan could potentially play a more prominent international role is through the contributions of Japanese civil society to global health. Accordingly, as part of its activities on global health cooperation, JCIE commissioned the Waseda Institute for Global Health to conduct a research project on  with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Waseda Institute carried out an in-depth survey of current Japanese NGO activities in global health, with a particular focus on their advocacy efforts, and interviewed representatives of several major NGOs to explore how these issues are being addressed. In the process, they identified the specific concerns relevant to Japanese healthcare NGOs, as well as the future steps that these NGOs must pursue if they are to play a greater international role