Japan
A champion for health and well-being at all ages
Japan has long been a committed supporter of global health and a dynamic partner of WHO, dedicated to making universal health coverage a reality in all countries and to leaving no one behind. Japan’s contributions are being used to strengthen countries’ health systems and fight the drug-resistant microbes that threaten to undermine the effectiveness of medicines, while promoting good nutrition, healthy ageing and more.
Japan is WHO’s 10th overall contributor in the 2022-2023 biennium. Japan is also the third-largest donor to the Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE), with a contribution of US$ 32.9 million. Japan has been a strong supporter of WHO's work in emergencies, providing US$180 million since 2016 to support the WHO-led humanitarian health response in crisis-affected countries and territories. In 2024, Japan has provided more than US$ 30 million in funding for occupied Palestinian territory and US$ 7 million for Afghanistan.
Japan also ranks 10th amongst WHO’s top donors to thematic contributions, which the country provides on top of its annual membership fees.
Creating a world that meets the needs of older people is a shared health priority of Japan and WHO. Above, chess as a tool for stroke rehabilitation in the Philippines.
Note: The amounts represent the revenue received by WHO for the period stated. Figures in the Budget Portal may vary, as they represent funds available net of programme support costs.
Top global health priorities
- Global health security
- Universal health coverage
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Tuberculosis
- Healthy ageing
- Nutrition and food safety
Contributions in action
Pacific island countries are seizing the opportunity presented by the COVID-19 pandemic response to strengthen primary care services. Above: a WHO staff member visits an outer island of Kiribati.
Global health security
Japan has been a top ally of WHO during many emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis, natural disasters, and refugee crises worldwide. Japan was an early supporter of the WHE. Its support helped kickstart the core programme and WHO’s CFE, a mechanism that provides the financial resources to respond, often in 24 hours or less, to disease outbreaks and health emergencies. Japan is represented on the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), an international advisory group of scientists devoted to understanding the origins of coronavirus and other outbreaks.
Japanese institutions and agencies support the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), a WHO network of more than 250 technical partners that deploy staff and resources to acute public health events. Japan also serves as vice-chair on an intergovernmental negotiating body that is working to develop an international agreement or other mechanism to fortify the world’s defenses against future pandemics.
Working out such an agreement is a first step toward building a complete pandemic preparedness and response system. The international negotiating body was formed in December 2021, after the COVID-19 pandemic revealed significant gaps in the world’s ability to mount a coordinated pandemic response. Comprising all regions and income levels, the group will submit its findings to the World Health Assembly in 2024.
Antimicrobial resistance
Japan has helped advance WHO’s Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, a worldwide strategy launched in 2015 to fight the emergence of superbugs – infectious microorganisms that are resistant to the antibiotics now in use. Japan has taken on the role of supporting low- and middle-income countries as they develop, carry out and monitor their national plans. Work includes improving public understanding of antimicrobial resistance, conducting research and surveillance, reducing infection, and other activities. As of late 2021, nearly 150 countries had completed their national plans and more than half had set them in motion.
Bacteria and bacterial DNA are stored for research at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals in Nigeria.
Specially tailored services help older people maintain life skills. Above: A calligraphy class in Kumamoto, Japan.
Healthy ageing
The number of people aged 60 years and older is expected to hit 1.4 billion in 2030 and reach 2.1 billion by 2050. This historically significant demographic shift requires adaptations in many areas, from health and social care to transportation, housing, and urban planning.
Japan has been a leading supporter of the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities. The Network was formed in 2010 to create social and physical environments that are good for older people. Hundreds of millions of people around the world now benefit from the initiative.
With the support of the Japanese government, WHO has developed tools to help health professionals prevent, slow or reverse mental and physical decline in older people.
These include the ICOPE (integrated care for older people) handbook and mobile app for health workers – materials that are available in the six UN languages and Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese and Vietnamese. Japan is also providing funding to develop a WHO guideline for managing chronic low back pain.
The Universal Health Coverage for a fairer, healthier world
The Universal Health Coverage Partnership
Japan contributes to the Universal Health Coverage Partnership, which is helping WHO build up countries’ health systems so that they can deliver health care for everyone. WHO provides technical expertise and other assistance to 115 countries (and counting) through the Partnership, which was formed in 2011 and is now one of the Organization’s largest platforms for international cooperation on universal health coverage and primary health care. Japan’s contribution comes through its Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Japan is also a member of UHC2030, a multi-stakeholder platform that unites diverse voices and perspectives to work toward universal health coverage.
Health workers in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia examine images from a tuberculosis patient.
Tuberculosis
Most of the people who fall ill with tuberculosis can be found in eight low- and middle-income countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa. Although TB is preventable and curable, every year 10 million people fall ill with it and 1.5 million people die of it.
The government of Japan has provided crucial resources to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme for many years. Japan supports global leadership in response to the TB epidemic, development of strategy and normative guidance; global monitoring and reporting of the TB epidemic and progress in the response; and strategic guidance to countries to strengthen TB surveillance and implement national surveys of the burden of TB disease – including cost surveys that are informing policy related to universal health coverage and social protection.
Nutrition and food safety
Better nutrition means better infant, child and maternal health, stronger immune systems, safer pregnancy and childbirth, greater longevity, and lower risk for diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases.
In the area of food safety, Japan supports the Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG), the WHO global strategy for food safety, World Food Safety Day, and the publication Estimating the burden of foodborne diseases: A practical handbook for countries.
Keeping the food supply safe is a top global health priority for Japan. Above, vegetables for sale in Vietnam
Japan and WHO programmes
Support from the Government of Japan enabled WHO to procure and distribute trauma emergency surgical kits and other life-saving materials to health facilities across Afghanistan. Above, a delivery to Kabul, 2022.
Japan hosts 36 WHO collaborating centres; these are places such as research or educational institutions that carry out activities in support of WHO programmes.
Japan’s support for WHO’s work makes a difference
The Government of Japan’s support to WHO has enabled the Western Pacific Region and other countries across the globe to carry out much-needed health emergencies responses and to provide essential health services to vulnerable populations. Essential, pivotal work has taken place in Ethiopia, the Gaza Strip, Namibia, Pacific Islands countries, Somalia, Syria, Tonga, the Western Pacific and Ukraine.
A beneficiary of the project receives health services at Al-Qamishli National Hospital