Knowledge Forum “Global Health at a Crossroads: Japan’s Leadership in an Era of Declining Global Aid”

The landscape for development cooperation in global health is at a turning point right now. Following aid cuts by conventional key donor countries, many international organizations are compelled to revisit or scale back their activities. Some estimate that funding for development cooperation in global health, which had amounted to around 80 billion USD in 2021, may be reduced by more than half to 38.4 billion USD in 2025. Meanwhile, low- and middle-income countries are increasingly taking initiative and exerting leadership to secure funding for health and development in general. One example is the release of the Accra Reset by the President of Ghana in September 2025.

Over the years, Japan has played a crucial role in advancing global health through diplomacy exemplified in G7 and G20, as well as through bilateral and multilateral ODA. In 2022, Japan formulated the Global Health Strategy , which sets out the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC) across countries and the strengthening of the global health architecture, a framework for global cooperation to prepare for health emergencies caused by infectious diseases as its goals. However, due to long-term stagnation and financial difficulties, while still a minority,* negative views toward ODA are domestically on the rise.

Under such circumstances, there is a need to re-examine from multiple perspectives how Japan can contribute to global health.

This Knowledge Forum will welcome Omi Shigeru (Chair, Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association), who has led infectious disease control and other health measures in and outside of Japan and is a renowned expert of global health. Omi will give a keynote lecture titled “Global Health at a Crossroads: Japan’s Leadership in an Era of Declining Global Aid.” Following the keynote, Itoh Satoko (Managing Director, JCIE), Nakagawa Sachiko (Managing Director, Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association) and Shibusawa Ken (CEO, Shibusawa and Company, Inc.) will join a panel to discuss in depth how Japan could contribute to the global health field in the future, focusing on the following perspectives:

1) Japan’s contribution to global health to date;
2) how Japan should deal with changes in global health finance and governance;
3) how new collaboration models involving diverse partners such as governments of low- and middle-income countries, civil society and private sector should look like;
4) how sustainable models of contribution to the global community based on co-creation with low- and middle-income countries that leverage Japan’s strengths (human resources, technology and trust) may look like.

Through the discussion at the Knowledge Forum, we aim to communicate to the world how Japan can contribute to the global health going forward.

*“Domestic Public Opinion Survey on Japan’s Diplomacy (Preliminary Report, November 27, 2025)”

4:00-4:05 p.m. (5 mins) Opening remarks
● Oba Yuichi, Deputy Assistant Minister of International Cooperation Bureau and Ambassador for Global Health Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

4:05-4:35 p.m. (30 mins) Keynote lecture “Global Health at a Crossroads: Japan’s Leadership in an Era of Declining Global Aid”
● Omi Shigeru, Chair, Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association

4:35-5:55 p.m. (80 mins) Panel discussion
Panelists (in alphabetical order of family name )
● Itoh Satoko, Managing Director, JCIE
●Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Former Director General, Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ghana
● Nakagawa Sachiko, Managing Director, Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association
● Shibusawa Ken, CEO, Shibusawa and Company, Inc. / Co-chair, Impact Investment Initiative (Triple I) for Global Health

Moderator
Takizawa Ikuo , Principal Research Fellow, JICA Ogata Research Institute
5:55-6:00 p.m. (5 mins) Closing remarks
● Kamei Haruko , Director General, JICA Ogata Research Institute

Mr. Yuichi Oba, Ambassador for Global Health Diplomacy, Deputy Assistant Minister, International Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan
Mr. Yuichi Oba was appointed as Ambassador for Global Health Diplomacy as well as Deputy Assistant Minister, International Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan in October 2025. He is also a Board Member of Japan for Global Fund and Unitaid. He has many years of experience in development cooperation in various posts including Senior Vice President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Permanent Representative to UNESCAP and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Japanese Embassy in Thailand, Director of Office of Development Finance at the Ministry of Finance, Director of Country Assistance Planning Division III at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Counsellor at the Japanese Embassy in Egypt. After graduating from Tokyo University in 1993, he entered the Ministry of Construction and later transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Born in Iwaki, Fukushima.

Shigeru Omi (M.D. , Ph.D), Chairman, Board of Directors of Japan Anti-TuberculosisAssociation (JATA)
1972-1978　 M.D., Jichi Medical School, Japan
1987-1989　Ph.D. Molecular Biology of Hepatitis B Virus, Division of Immunology, Jichi Medical School, Japan
1990-1998　Director, Division of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific
1999-2009　WHO Regional Director For The Western Pacific
2009- Regional Director Emeritus for WHO Western Pacific Region
2012-2014　President of Readjustment of Facilities for insured persons and beneficiaries Organization
2013-　WHO Member of Executive Board
2014-2022 President of JAPAN Community Health care Organization（JCHO）
2022- present Chairman, Board of Directors of Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association(JATA), Honorary President of JCHO

Satoko ITOH, Managing Director, Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE); Director, Friends of the Global Fund, Japan (FGFJ)
Ms. Satoko Itoh joined JCIE in 1988. She currently oversees a wide range of programs in the areas of global health, civil society, and philanthropy. She is currently responsible for the management of the Friends of the Global Fund, Japan (FGFJ), and JCIE’s Global Health and Human Security Program and Healthy & Active Aging in Asia Program.
Ms. Itoh has an extensive network, having worked closely with representatives of various ministries, the private sector, and key CSOs. Her expertise lies in navigating the complicated dynamics and politics of various actors in the global health community in Japan. Based on her years of experience in civil society development and corporate philanthropic partnership in Japan, she has given numerous presentations and written extensively in Japanese and English on the responses to the challenges of communicable diseases at the domestic and global levels and on trends in civil society development in Japan. She holds a BA from Keio University and an MA in area studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Sachiko Nakagawa
Sachiko Nakagawa is a Managing Director of Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA) and a Vice-Chair of the Council of International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).
She joined JPMA in 2020 and has been mainly in charge of International Affairs Committee including Global Health agenda, Intellectual Property Committee, Asia Partnership Conference of Pharmaceutical Associations（APAC）and Office of Pharmaceutical Industry Research (OPIR). At the same time, she joined IFPMA in 2020 and has been a member of the IFPMA Council. She was appointed as a Vice-Chair of the Council in 2023.
She has been joined as a APEC RHSC Industry Representative since 2023.
She was appointed as a member of Healthcare・Medical Industry International Development Council of the Headquarters for Healthcare Policy approved by Cabinet Office in 2020. Previously, she served as the Vice President and Head of China Business Management Department at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, Japan. During her term of office, she contributed to the approval of rare disease drug in China. Prior to her role at China business, she was involved in drug development for both pharmaceutical company and medical device company. She is a pharmacist. She got her master’s degree of Public Health from Kyoto University School of Public Health and Ph. D. of Medicine from Kyoto University.

Ken Shibusawa, Chief Executive Officer, Shibusawa and Company, Inc., Chief Executive Officer, & Capital and Chairman, Commons Asset Management
Ken Shibusawa founded in 2001, Shibusawa and Company, Inc., an advisory firm engaging multi-stakeholder dialogue among policy leaders, business executives, investment professionals and society at large. He also founded in 2008, Commons Asset Management, a mutual fund dedicated to deliver cross- generational long-term investments to the Japanese household. In 2022, he founded &Capital, an asset management company for impact investing into Africa. As of June 2025, he will assume the position of independent director at Kyushu Financial Group,Inc. as well as Seven Bank, Ltd.
From 1988 to 2001, he gained extensive market experience at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs as well as Moore Capital, a global macro hedge fund, where he was the representative managing director of the Tokyo Office from 1997 to 2001.
Currently, he is an independent director at Kyushu Financial Group, Inc. as well as Seven Bank. Ltd., and senior advisor at Brunswick Group and Bain & Co. in Tokyo. He is also director of Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives), as well the co-chair of the organization’s Middle East-Africa Committee. In addition, he is advisor to the Office of the President, University of Tokyo, co-chair of Triple I (Impact Investment Initiative) for Global Health, chair of GSG Impact Japan, as well as member of several government committees.

Please register by clicking here .
*Registration will be closed at noon February 3 (Japan time).

JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development (Mr. Takeuchi and Ms. Kajino)
E-mail：dritrp@jica.go.jp