Japan and Malawi, so as to help the movement’s smooth deployment in other countries. A total of 120 people participated in the seminar including people from 12 African countries, one Asian country, Malawian officials, and donor affiliates such as from JICA, where they energetically exchanged views on deploying the One Village One Product movement in their own respective countries.

### 2. Health

## (1) Three Health-related Development Goals

International health issues can no longer be faced by a single country, but have now become global issues that must be tackled by the international community as a whole. If death and disabilities from disease increase, families that lose their workers will face economic burdens, and medical fees will pose significant burdens for families with sick members. This will engender further poverty and a vicious circle where illness and infectious diseases become widespread due to poor nutrition and sanitation. These circumstances lead to a reduced national work force and hinder national development. They are also tied to such problems as terrorism and conflict which impact regional peace and order.

In the MDGs, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases are listed as objectives in the health sector to be achieved by 2015. However, the objective of reducing child mortality is lagging the most in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 157 in 1,000 children cannot live to their fifth birthday (as of 2006). Moreover, 500,000 women die of treatable or preventable causes during pregnancy or childbirth every year. That number is particularly high in Sub-Saharan Africa, where it applies to one in every 22 women in labor while the number is one in 7,300 women in labor in developed countries (as of 2006). Furthermore, while the overall number of individuals infected with HIV in developing countries remains relatively unchanged, the number of individuals dying from AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa is rising.

## (2) Support of Comprehensive Medical Care

Amidst these circumstances, Japan raised the problem of infectious diseases in developing countries as one of the major agendas at the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit in July 2000, making the issue a main discussion topic at a summit for the first time. Moreover, Japan announced the Okinawa Infectious Diseases Initiative (IDI). This summit led to the establishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2002.

In November 2007, then Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura gave a policy speech entitled Global Health and Japan's Foreign Policy: From Okinawa to Toyako in light of the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) and the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit in the following year. In the speech, he asserted the necessity for comprehensive efforts for strengthening health systems, improving maternal and child health, and countermeasures for infectious diseases. He also called on the cooperation of all related parties including various countries, international organizations, the business sector, the academic community, and civil society in order to establish an action policy to be shared within the international community.

In response to the foreign minister’s policy speech, the topic of health was brought up at TICAD IV in May 2008 where active discussion was conducted on the direction of African development. The Yokohama Action Plan, which clarifies concrete undertakings to be taken by related countries and organizations including Japan over the next five years, presents undertakings in the areas of strengthening health systems, improving maternal and child health, and countermeasures for infectious diseases. Immediate efforts by Japan include saving the lives of 400,000 children over the following five years, training 100,000 healthcare human resources, and contributing US$560 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria starting in 2009.

## (3) Framework for Action on Global Health

Japan also raised global health as a major agenda at the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit, announcing the Toyako Framework for Action on Global Health. This framework was created after three meetings in February, April, and June 2008 by the G8 Health Experts Group, which was established by Japan. The framework, which took the form of recommendations, was welcomed in the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit Leaders Declaration. The declaration includes the following points regarding the health sector: