On 25 th November 2007, Masahiko Koumura, Minister for Foreign Affairs, delivered a speech in Tokyo, “Global Health and Japan's Policy - From Okinawa to Toyako,” announcing that ‘Japan will take up and call for a stronger engagement of the international community in Global Health' at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) and the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. (pdf)

This was a significant development in that it was the first official speech made by the Government of Japan on its policy towards Global Health for TICAD IV and the G8 Summit and that Japan officially stated taking up “Global Health” as an agenda , along with Climate Change and Africa, at the next G8 Summit.

The minister's speech also clearly mentioned that Japan will invite civil society and all key stakeholders in developing a common framework for action shared by the international community, and it referred to the retention of health personnel in addition to the development of health-related human resources. 

As a NGO that has actively advocated the Government of Japan to make “Global Health” the main agenda, JOICFP welcomed this development and expressed its willingness to participate in policy formulation in a NGO press release (pdf) made by the Global Health Working Group.

Jill Greer , Director-General, IPPF, who was invited by the Government of Japan to attend Minister Koumura's speech said, “This announcement by the government of Japan is timely and important if we are to keep global health at the centre of the development agenda.

“Japan's combined approach to global health is a winning formula, and IPPF is determined to play an important role in ensuring that this is translated into action for the millions of people in developing countries who depend upon our services.”

NGO Advocacy toward G8 Summit

Since the establishment of the Global Health Working Group in early 2007 as an issue-based working group of the 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum, JOICFP, together with 12 likeminded NGOs working in the field of global health, have worked hard to make effective advocacy strategies to bring light to Global Health issues. These efforts were translated into a NGO position paper on Global Health that focused on MDGs 4, 5, 6 and Health System Strengthening (pdf)

NGOs used this position paper to initiate advocacy strategically targeting key decision and policy makers such as members of parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan, as well as to mass media to increase their awareness on Global Health and let them know of NGO activities towards G8.

In addition, these topics were discussed at the Regular Dialogue between MOFA and NGOs.

The Global Health Working Group is proud that its continuous advocacy efforts paved the way in materializing this important development on 25th November. This major outcome has deepened our determination to strengthen our lobbying efforts in the process leading up to TICAD IV and the next G8 Summit to bring further attention to the heads of G8 states and Japan to Global Health.

In parallel with lobbying activities towards parliamentarians, the Government of Japan, media and other stakeholders, JOICFP and the Global Health Working Group will also conduct a popular mobilization campaign right up to the G8 Summit to mobilize the public to call for strong commitment by Japan and G8 countries to address global health issues.

JOICFP is strongly committed to shed light on the areas of Reproductive Health, Maternal and Child Health, and Family Planning, and will work hard to draw firm determination from Japan and G8 countries to address these in the outcome documents of TICAD IV and G8.

We appreciate the continued support of our international partners.

Progress on JOICFP's advocacy activities towards TICAD IV and G8 Summit in 2008 will be reported on the JOICFP website.