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On March 1st, Mr. Ito Kenichi, Deputy Director General and Group Director for Health Group 1, Human Development Department, JICA, spoke via video message at the Human Capital Project (HCP) Global Forum - Investing in People and Building Resilience for Recovery -, hosted by the World Bank Group.

Investing in people and building resilience for recovery is of paramount importance since the COVID-19 pandemic has compromised the gains made in human capital.

This Forum held on March 1st and 2nd brought together governmental Focal Points from the 79 HCP countries, senior ministers, development partners, and experts from the private sector and civil society to learn from one another, drive an agenda for change, share expertise and innovations in service delivery, and showcase successful cross-sectoral approaches in human capital investments around the world.

On the first day, March 1st, Dr. Mari Pangestu, Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships, the World Bank Group, moderated the opening session in which high-level representatives from the public and private sectors from around the world discussed the impact of the global pandemic of COVID-19. After that, Mr. Ito spoke about innovative service delivery for Human Capital - aging as an example - before the "Reimagining Service Delivery" session to share experiences how the public and private sectors can work together to realize and embrace innovation to improve service delivery. He mentioned JICA's Verification Survey with the Private Sector for Disseminating Japanese technologies for Introduction of "MIMAMORI SYSTEM" for Improvement of Welfare and Healthcare in Thailand. In this project, the nursing care support robot, or the monitoring sensor, developed by a Japanese company was introduced in several care facilities and contributed to the operational efficiency of caregivers by reducing their care burden together with technical support by a university in Thailand. Then he emphasized the importance to promote Universal Health Coverage despite various challenges posed by COVID-19 for the resilient society where health service delivery is appropriately provided when needed. While introducing "JICA's Initiative for Global Health and Medicine" launched last year to strengthen health and medical systems in the areas of prevention, precaution and treatment in partner countries, he called for united efforts to overcome the challenges and achieve Human Security and Universal Health Coverage for the goal of "leaving no one's health behind" to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.