Over 8 days from July 25th to August 1st, the Global Health Policy Summer Program was held for university and postgraduate students. The objective of the program, co-sponsored by Health Policy Institute, Japan together with the School of International Health/Global Health Sciences at the University of Tokyo, is to nurture the next generation of leaders and human resources in the global health field. Students from diverse disciplines with a keen interest in global health gathered from across the country, attended lectures by leaders in various fields at the forefront of global health activity, worked through intense group discussions to create effective policy ideas, and announced their policy proposals on the final day.

In the lectures, the involvement of teachers drawn from government, international organizations, business, media, NGOs/NPOs and elsewhere, enabled participants to grasp various key aspects of global health before analyzing the current situation and Japan’s stance on core issues. Building on what was learned from the lectures, there were active discussions of the program’s two policy proposal themes – “How to promote broader public awareness of global health policy through advocacy” and “Actions needed for Japan to produce human resources capable of playing an active international role in the global health policy field” – with each group eventually drawing up its own policy proposals.

In addition to investigating numerous aspects of global health, the Summer Program offered skills training in such essential areas as problem solving, making presentations, and formulating policy proposals. A “Career Night” was also held during the program as an opportunity for participating students to consider their future options, with young, globally active panelists from various fields invited to talk about the paths they have taken.

On the final day, a Policy Proposal Presentation was held with the participation of House of Representatives member, Ichiro Aisawa, and House of Councillors member, Ryuhei Kawada. Furthermore, during the program, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Chinami Nishimura, took time from her busy schedule to give a message to participants.

With their passion, and the valuable experience they gained on this program, we have great expectations of seeing program participants playing active global roles in the not so distant future.

【Dates】
　July 25 ~ August 1, 2010
【Venue】
　The University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus
【Organizing Sponsors】
　Specified Nonprofit Corporation  Health Policy Institute, Japan
　School of International Health/Global Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
【Number of participants】
　27

Exhibition date：2010-07-25