Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Vice President Mr. Joji Sugawara participated as an expert in the hearing for the final report published by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) titled “Final Report on the Information Collection and Confirmation Survey on Climate Change Countermeasures and Planetary Health in the Health Sector Worldwide.”

This JICA survey organizes the impacts of climate change on health and international policy and support trends, presents directions for JICA’s health sector cooperation on climate change measures, and examines the concept of planetary health while exploring its connections and potential applications to JICA’s work.

Expert Hearing Content

As part of the expert hearings, Sugawara provided input online on June 9, 2025.

Key points from Sugawara’s input included the following:

• The practical importance of planetary health
• Japan’s strengths and weaknesses in Official Development Assistance (ODA), including Universal Health Coverage (UHC) promotion, pollution control experience, local governments’ adaptations to diverse climates and cultures, and technological capabilities
• Differences with One Health and global health
• Highly implementable initiatives (Greener UHC, Heat and Health measures, environmental considerations and AMR countermeasures in healthcare facilities, medical DX, etc.)
• Possibilities for collaboration with JICA (Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) / Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) initiatives, COP30-related discussions, etc.)

In addition, the report cites and references our institute’s policy columns and recommendations.

These inputs were reflected in the final report and contributed to JICA’s proposed guidelines and cluster-specific policy measures for future health sector cooperation. For more information, please see here (in Japanese).

Furthermore, building on the report’s findings, JICA has published a new webpage titled “Planetary Health and JICA” to systematically organize and communicate its health sector efforts from a planetary health perspective.