G8 Global Health Commitment Announced at Women Deliver

Government of Japan determined to ensure global health challenges take centre stage on 2008 G8 agenda

In a statement delivered to delegates at the Women Deliver Conference currently taking place in London, Mr. Masato Takaoka, Minister, Economic Section of the Embassy of Japan to the UK, announced the Government of Japan's intention to place global health at the centre of next year's G8 Summit in Toyako, Japan in July 2008. The Government of Japan's reaffirmation of its own commitment to global health, and the decision to lead the process to refocus the
G8's attention on global health and make the next G8 Summit in Japan a vehicle to address global health challenges, is a significant step to ensuring that commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remains strong from the world's most powerful economies.

The statement reads:

"Global health remains a pressing issue for all mankind in the 21st century. The Millennium Development Goals have put the spotlight on the fields of maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of all the development partners, we have seen an overall improvement in each of these fields. However,
there remain many outstanding challenges: the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio are still significantly high in Sub-Saharan Africa; although medicine for HIV/AIDS now reaches a wider population, the number of newly-infected patients continues to grow, and this is making prevention of the disease ever more important; some parts of the world are close to achieving the goal on Malaria and Tuberculosis, but further efforts are required in Sub-Saharan Africa; and new types of fatal epidemic diseases such as SAS and avian flu are threatening people's lives.

The year 2008 will be the mid-point in our efforts to achieve the MDGs by 2015. It is therefore very important at the critical junction to
refocus our attention on, and raise international awareness of, global health issues. To speak of my country, Japan has consistently played a leading role in the field of global health. Remember 2000, when Japan launched the Okinawa Infectious Disease Initiative (IDI) and brought this issue right to the centre of the G8 agenda, which eventually led to the foundation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In 2005, we went on to announce its Health and Development Initiative (HDI) in order to contribute to achieving health-related MDGs and focusing on issues such as infectious disease, health system
development and the cross-sectoral approach.

Japan has long and rich experience in the area of public health through major interventions, particularly in relation to maternal, new-born and child health. Utilizing our experience in the fight against Malaria, we have been providing Africa with long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets since 2005, and will have supplied 10 million by the end of this year. UNICEF estimates that this initiative has saved lives of at least 150,000 mothers and children. To take another example, since 1942, the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Handbook provided to all mothers of new-born babies in Japan has been used as an empowerment tool for mothers to monitor and document all the details of their babies' growth. With the support of administrative and local health systems, the MCH Handbook has proven successful in protecting the health of mothers and children in Japan. It has now been made available in a number of countries and region, such as Indonesia and Palestine.

Building on these experiences, Japan is determined to shed new light on global health. It is time to renew our firm resolution to achieve the health-related MDGs. In this context TICAD IV, scheduled for May 2008 in Yokohama, and the G8 Summit in Toyako, Hokkaido in July 2008, together with the process leading up to these two major events, will be an excellent opportunity for presenting a comprehensive vision of global health based on the concept of Human Security. As an initial step, Japan is planning to issue a high-level policy statement in the coming months."

To read more about the Women Deliver Conference, please click here.