JICA Human Development Department
Confront Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) - Japanese countermeasures and JICA's initiatives to public health risks -

Japan's experiences and knowledge in the COVID-19 pandemic

The effectiveness of avoiding the "3 Cs" was recognized by the WHO and gained worldwide recognition.

Since the end of 2019, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has expanded and been strongly present all over the world. Japan has kept the number of infections and the number of deaths comparatively lower than other developed and developing countries, and its measures have received recognition worldwide. It is thought that there are the Japanese health system and citizens' attention to hygiene in the background.

With regard to the point, we organized Japan's experiences and knowledge about COVID-19 countermeasures, and produced JICA-Net multimedia-based learning materials "Response of Japan and JICA to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Other Public Health Risks" (external link)

The material introduces concisely the response of Japan and JICA's international initiatives

In preparation for the spread of the pandemic, 3 drive-through testing centers were established in Nagasaki Prefecture.

The material introduces some of the features of the Japanese response as well as a variety of JICA's international initiatives to public health risks such as COVID-19.

First, the material explains Japan's health system, the role of public health centers that are on the frontlines of COVID-19 response, handling epidemiological survey and coordinating examinations and hospitalizations. Furthermore, the responses of the Japanese government and citizens to COVID-19 pandemic are introduced.

Then, the material picks up Nagasaki Prefecture as a reference to show which countermeasures the regional municipalities taken to approach COVID-19.

Nagasaki Prefecture gathered the medical resources of the prefecture and city public health centers, the prefectural medical association, and the Nagasaki University Hospital to create a system that took advantage of the unique characteristics of the region to deal with COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the system improvement developed by Nagasaki Prefecture and Nagasaki University Hospital before the spread of the infection, testing system that was actively promoted from an early stage, infection prevention measures in hospitals, and mental healthcare for medical workers. We can see those Nagasaki's countermeasures from the three main points: prevention, precaution, and treatment.

Finally, the material introduces JICA's effort in collaboration with Nagasaki University, and the JICA Global Health Initiative (Japanese) as the latest approach.

Images of frontline workers in COVID-19 response

Public health centers that are on the frontlines against public health risks play an important role in COVID-19 pandemic.

The material includes many videos and interviews at public health centers and health facilities which are on the frontlines of COVID-19 response. You can see the situation and efforts of people working there to prevent public health risks, which is a scenery that you would not normally be able to see.

During the production of the material, a state of emergency was declared because of the spread of COVID-19. For that reason, we had some challenges, specifically, we were not able to shoot a video at the planned time, and a camera operator was not able to enter health facility as scheduled.

Although the situation of COVID-19 in Japan and government's response was continuously changing, we made effort to reflect latest things to the material as possible as we can. We are grateful to all health workers in collaboration for helped us while we were shooting the video.

The material is produced for the purpose of utilizing in JICA Knowledge Co-Creation Programs. We expect participants in each country who watch the material in the program could make good use of it for not only countermeasures to COVID-19 but also building a health system and a project to prevent the spread of other infection in their own countries. We hope that officials in Health Department and in local governments, who especially promote Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in our partner countries, can use Japan's experiences and knowledge presented through the material.

*The situation of COVID-19 is changing constantly and the measures are taken flexibly and properly according to circumstance in each places. Please kindly note that the situation of infection and measures shown in the material are at the time when we made the script.

ITO Miwa, MIZUNO Miyu
Health Group 1, Human Development Department

*The Material(s) mainly applied

Response of Japan and JICA to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Other Public Health Risks

This material explains Japan's experience and knowledge regarding its response to COVID-19.

Governments around the world are currently implementing various measures to prevent the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, COVID-19. Japan has kept the number of infections and the number of deaths comparatively low, and its measures have received recognition worldwide.

This material introduces some of the features of the Japanese response as well as a variety of JICA's international initiatives to prevent the spread of infection. It is expected to be used in various training programs etc.

• YouTube (external link)