Announcement of the "Health and Development Initiative" and Japan's contribution to achieve the health MDGs

June 28, 2005

With the G8 Gleneagles Summit (July) and the Mid-term Review of the United Nations Millennium Declaration (September) near at hand, international community's attention centers on the development issues, especially the progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Among the 8 MDGs, 3 goals are directly related to health, a reflection of the crucial importance of health to promote freedom from sickness and poverty.

Japan has actively supported the developing countries to tackle health problems including infectious diseases based on its "Global Issues Initiative on Population and AIDS (1994)", "Global parasitic diseases control (1998)" and "Okinawa Infectious Diseases Initiative (2000)". To further contribute to the achievement of the health MDGs, Japan launched the "Health and Development Initiative" on the occasion of the "High-level Forum on the Health-MDGs in Asia and the Pacific". On June 28th, Prime Minister Koizumi announced that Japan would provide comprehensive assistance amounting to US$ 5 billion over the next five years.

Based on this "Health and Development Initiative" (PDF) , Japan will further enhance its support for the efforts of the developing countries towards the achievement of the health MDGs

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