Hinoshita Eiji
Office of International Cooperation, International Affairs Division, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Yakugaku Zasshi. 2016;136(2):237-42. doi: 10.1248/yakushi.15-00233-5.
In developing countries, many people are unable to access basic healthcare services, resulting in many avoidable deaths and/or disabilities. The United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals in order to resolve this problem, and Japan has been contributing greatly to the achievement of these goals. In this context, in 2013 the Government of Japan proposed its Strategy on Global Health Diplomacy, and since then has been promoting Universal Health Coverage. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the particular importance of addressing neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has been stressed by the international community. Nevertheless, of the 1 billion people world-wide who are currently living with NTDs, about three-fourths of these are living in poverty, and of these, nearly 65% are unable to acquire or access drugs for the prevention and treatment of these diseases. Under these circumstances, Japan decided to support the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund in order to support the research and development of drugs for people in developing countries, as well as the manufacture, supply and administration of these drugs. Over the last two years, the GHIT Fund has been supporting the research and development of five new candidate drugs for three NTDs (Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and malaria). Japan also hopes to stimulate domestic pharmaceutical industries in developing countries, as well as to increase international cooperation through various activities such the utilization of our capacity to research and develop new drugs.
在发展中国家，许多人无法获得基本医疗服务，导致许多可避免的死亡和/或残疾。联合国通过了千年发展目标以解决这一问题，日本一直在为实现这些目标做出巨大贡献。在此背景下，2013年日本政府提出了其全球卫生外交战略，此后一直在推动全民健康覆盖。自21世纪初以来，国际社会一直强调应对被忽视热带病（NTDs）的特殊重要性。然而，在目前全球10亿患有被忽视热带病的人群中，约四分之三生活在贫困中，其中近65%无法获得预防和治疗这些疾病的药物。在这种情况下，日本决定支持全球卫生创新技术（GHIT）基金，以支持为发展中国家人民研发药物，以及这些药物的生产、供应和管理。在过去两年中，GHIT基金一直在支持针对三种被忽视热带病（恰加斯病、利什曼病和疟疾）的五种新候选药物的研发。日本还希望刺激发展中国家的国内制药行业，并通过各种活动加强国际合作，例如利用我们研发新药的能力。
