Japan's development assistance for health: Historical trends and prospects for a new era

Shuhei Nomura; Lisa Yamasaki; Kazuki Shimizu; Cyrus Ghaznavi; Haruka Sakamoto

doi:10.1016/j.lanwpc.2022.100403

Japan's development assistance for health: Historical trends and prospects for a new era

Lancet Reg Health West Pac. 2022 May:22:100403. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2022.100403. Epub 2022 Feb 22.

Authors

Shuhei Nomura^{1

2

3

4

5}, Lisa Yamasaki^{2

6}, Kazuki Shimizu³, Cyrus Ghaznavi^{1

7}, Haruka Sakamoto^{1

2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan.
² Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Better Co-Being, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Global Health Governance Study Group, Japan Center for International Exchange, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ School of Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
⁷ Medical Education Program, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Saint Louis, United States.

Abstract

The year 2020 marked an important turning point in Japan's global health policy. While the global health community has been suffering serious damage to sustainable health financing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an independent commission on Japan's Strategy on Development Assistance for Health (DAH) launched an ambitious policy recommendation to double the amount of Japan's DAH during the post-COVID-19 era. This paper examines historical trends in DAH in Japan over the past 30 years based on published literature and comprehensive DAH tracking data and highlights priority areas for discussion on how DAH can be advanced to ensure equitable and efficient use of limited resources to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including universal health coverage and pandemic preparedness, in low- and middle-income countries. Priority areas for discussion include: how and where to focus DAH for equitable health gains; how to provide DAH to support health system strengthening, including pandemic preparedness; and clarifying the role of DAH in global health functions.

Keywords: COVID-19; Development assistance for health; Disease burden; Health system strengthening; Japan; National income; Non-communicable diseases.

Publication types

Review