On July 14, 2009, Professor Miriam K. Were, first laureate of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Award, visited Tokyo for a series of meetings with global health experts and a roundtable with Japanese leaders from various sectors. Professor Were is chairperson of the Kenyan National AIDS Control Council and co-founder and chairperson of the UZIMA Foundation of Kenya. Professor Were spoke at a roundtable discussion and luncheon specially convened for her visit entitled “Human Resource Development and the Future of Africa.” 

The roundtable brought together leaders from various fields in Japan, including representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japanese government ministries, public health NGOs, the media, and academia. Professor Were also met with Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa, former science adviser to the Japanese prime minister and chair of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Committee, and paid a visit to Deputy Foreign Minister Yoichi Otabe and other senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.