In 2019 and 2020, Japan hosts a range of critical international meetings, from the G20 Summit to the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7), and the Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G). In order to help the Japanese government make strategic use of these events in advancing global health, in April 2018 the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE) convened a half-year consultative process in collaboration with five key Japanese government agencies: the Cabinet Secretariat; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; the Ministry of Finance; and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This entailed organizing an ad hoc, 15-member “JCIE International Advisory Group on Global Health (IAG).” The IAG comprised leading global health practitioners and experts from around the world, who offered their insights into ways that Japan can leverage these events to improve global health. Their deliberations are compiled in a report, “Advancing the Global Health Agenda in the SDG Era: Enhancing Japan’s Leadership Role in 2019–2020.”

Throughout their deliberations and discussions, the IAG members generally agreed on the importance of reinforcing existing multilateral collaboration, emphasizing the core role of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the integration of universal health coverage (UHC) in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The IAG also acknowledged that national health systems should provide the full spectrum of health care and promotion services—including prevention, community-based primary health care services, critical specialty health care, and resilient systems that can respond to natural and manmade emergencies and epidemics. Finally, the IAG reiterated the importance of utilizing multistakeholder approaches—engaging with WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), nutrition, and urban development efforts, for example—in order to make progress in health and, especially, in health promotion.