JAGntd hosted the symposium at the Global Health Joint Convention 2020

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Symposium: Neglected Tropical Diseases: Can Japan Strategy for the Next 10 Years?

Neglected Tropical Diseases: Can Japan build strategies for the next 10 years?

• Date and time: Sunday, November 1st, 13: 15-14: 45 (90 minutes)
• Organized by: Japan's Neglected Tropical Diseases Alliance (JAGntd)
• Co-sponsored by: SDGs Promise Japan

Symposium outline

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) is a collective term for 20 disease groups such as onchocerciasis and schistosomiasis. It is said that more than 1 billion people worldwide, mainly the poor in developing countries, are infected with at least one NTDs. Its measures are an important public health challenge to get out of poverty and are included in the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, many diseases have not yet been adequately addressed and require further international efforts.

So far, Japan has supported NTDs countermeasures with the government, industry, academia and the private sector. As for the use of public funds from the government, it has promoted the development of NTDs research by domestic universities, implemented NTDs countermeasure projects overseas as part of official development assistance, and the World Health Organization (WHO). ) Is funding a mass medication program run by the African office. In recent years, a mechanism has been created to raise funds from the government and the private sector, such as companies, for research and development of NTDs drugs. There are also private organizations that have independently worked on NTDs countermeasures. In this way, although Japan's measures against NTDs involve multiple organizations and systems, the reality is that various businesses are operating without a strategy to control the whole. As a result, it is difficult to see the whole picture, and it is difficult for the international community to recognize its contribution. In the future, in order to make Japan's contribution more effective and efficient, it will be essential to create a medium- to long-term strategy centered on the administration.

Looking at the global NTDs strategy, the NTDs Countermeasures Guideline (commonly known as the Roadmap) issued by WHO in 2012 plays a central role in it. Various partners have used this document as a guide to 2020. A new roadmap from 2021 to 2030 was scheduled to be published this year as a successor, but the approval and publication of the document has been delayed due to the effects of the new coronavirus infection. A new roadmap draft is now available from WHO.

At this symposium, we will first position this new WHO roadmap as an important document that points the direction of the global NTDs strategy. After that, we will deepen the discussion on the ideal NTDs strategy for the next 10 years centered on the Japanese government, considering the consistency with the WHO roadmap. As panelists, we will invite government officials who are currently involved in NTDs countermeasures in Japan. On the agenda, we will discuss the possibilities and issues of how Japanese agencies can utilize the WHO roadmap in developing Japan's NTDs strategy for the next 10 years, based on the currently published draft. .. In addition, we will discuss the possibility of collaborating across the boundaries of each institution.

Currently, the central issue of global health is the control of new coronavirus infections, and many resources are being spent on it. In many other disease controls, including NTDs, it is becoming increasingly important to develop strategies that focus limited resources on priorities. Through this symposium, we will consider with all the visitors what Japan can do to make a significant contribution to the world's NTDs countermeasures.

 

agenda

Chair: Hiroyoshi Endo (St. Luke's International University Graduate School of Public Health)

time	Contents	Speaker (honorific title omitted)
13:15-13:20	Connection confirmation
13:20-13:25	greeting	Hiroyoshi Endo
13:25-13:30	introduction	JAGntd Kota Yoshioka
13:30-13:40	About WHO Roadmap	WHO  (under adjustment)
13:40-14:30	panel discussion	Satoshi Jiang, International Health Policy Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs JICA Hisashi Hiraoka GHIT Fund Kaseri Oura Pharmaceutical Cooperative NTD Group / Eisai Co., Ltd. Takayuki Hibane
14:30-14:45	Q & A as a whole	Hiroyoshi Endo