Reaffirming our Commitment to the
USAID-Japan Partnership for Global Health

Tokyo, Japan - June 10, 2003

As highlighted by G8 leaders at the recent Evian Summit, combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, polio and new epidemics such as SARS, improving access to health care in poor countries, and encouraging research on diseases mostly affecting developing countries are all major global health challenges. However, these issues are too large for any single government, agency, or organization to confront alone and require close cooperation on development policies and programs.

Building on many years of cooperation, and with the understanding that through synergy we can achieve the greatest beneficial impact, we will more actively seek opportunities to work together to improve the health status of people in developing countries, In that spirit, USAID and Japan reaffirm our commitment to the USAID-JAPAN Partnership for Global Health.

This renewed cooperation aims at better meeting today's health challenges in a more efficient and measurable manner. In this regard, U.S. and Japan will work harder to maximize the impact of our efforts in the health sector by increasing the level of consultation and collaboration in the planning, implementation and evaluation of programs and projects at the global, regional and country levels.

Already a variety of collaborative activities have taken place in various countries over the past year since the signing of the USAID-Japan Partnership for Global Health in June of 2002. Recognizing the value-added through working together and the clear need for expansion of collaborative activities, both parties wish to strengthen and renew this Partnership by committing our full support for the Action Plan Framework developed and agreed to last month in Washington, DC. In addition, both parties will seek to identify successful individual or joint activities that can be replicated elsewhere or scaled up in order to enhance effectiveness and impact.

Finally, to advance and support country and issue-specific actions, both parties will work to promote and facilitate this Partnership within and throughout our organizations in an effort to ensure smooth cooperation throughout the planning to implementation cycles.