AIDS in JAPAN -Basic Information and Coomunity Activities in Japan

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS,

Tuberculosis and Malaria and Japan

Contribution to International HIV/AIDS truck

1. Contribution of the Japanese Government to the Global Fund

It was at the G7 summit held in 2000 in Kyushu-Okinawa, the southwest part of Japan, where the initiative emerged concerning 'Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria'.

The greatest achievement of this Okinawa summit was that it succeeded in mainstreaming the issues of infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS as a problem with an extremely high priority among other development issues in the world. In this summit, an initiative on the Global Fund was brought together centering on the efforts of Japan and the United States, developed with cooperation by European countries and U.N. agencies, and came to fruition with its establishment in 2002.

Since the establishment of the Fund in 2002, the Japanese Government has disbursed over 480 million dollars (as of March 16, 2006) as financial contributions to the Fund, making it the 5th largest donor country after the United States, European Commission, France and Italy. Japan's contribution represents 7.3% of the total amount of all contributions to the Global Fund.

However, considering the proportion of Japan's GDP share in the whole world of 14%, and from the viewpoint of demanding contributions based on the country's GDP levels in order to fight the problem of infectious diseases as a global issue, there exists some criticism which claims that Japan's contribution to the Global Fund is still not adequate.

On 30th June 2005, Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister of Japan expressed that Japan would fund 500 million US dollars to the Global Fund "in the coming years". This means that Japanese government will double its contribution for the Fund.

As the decision-making body of the Global Fund, the Board Meeting provides a total of eight seats for the governments of donor countries. Japan occupies one seat, and it is only the United States and Italy that similarly occupy a seat each. This situation indicates that Japan feels a strong ownership of the Global Fund, and is making all efforts to maintain Japan's political influence on the Global Fund. Japan's ownership of the Global Fund can also be manifested since Japan brought together its initiative in cooperation with the United States at the Okinawa summit.

This illustrates that the Global Fund is one of the major items on the Japan-U.S. cooperation agenda in the global issues. Additionally, it could be regarded as a sign that the Japanese Government is determined that Japan should play a certain role towards the attainment of Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals.

The Japanese Government is aware of its role and mission in this respect. It is reflected in the consistent attitude of the Japanese Government in taking responsibility for a sound management of the Global Fund.

The Japanese Government has been consistently expressing its will to protect the current "Comprehensive Funding Policy", which was launched in its 6th Board Meeting in 2003. This 'Comprehensive Funding Policy' is a principle that, in order for the Global Fund to approve one project, the Global Fund needs to be able to cater for the initial two years of the project within the range of the resources that the Global Fund already has or what has been promised to be paid by the end of the calendar year.

This principle is causing limitation in the number of projects which the Global Fund is able to approve, thus some of the recipients have repeatedly been demanding the review of this 'Comprehensive Funding Policy'. However, the Japanese Government holds fast to the standpoint against its amendment; Japan recognizes that only this could serve as the highest bulwark in maintaining the financial discipline of the Global Fund. Besides, Japan has a sense of mission that it is necessary to operate the Global Fund with a sound financial discipline until the year 2015, the time limit of the Millennium Development Goals.

As described above, the Japanese Government is trying to be influential on the Global Fund's political aspect as well. Even though the contents of its policy are rather controversial, it would be important to adequately value the assertiveness of The Japanese Government on the Global Fund.

2. Private sector and civil society engagement to the Global Fund

Meanwhile, the most remarkable civil society movement in Japan concerning the Global Fund is the launch of the Friends of the Global Fund Japan (FGFJ) in 2004. Headed by former prime minister Yoshiro Mori, FGFJ board is comprised of 16 members representing diverse sectors of Japanese society, including the government and politics, business, academia, labor, and the nonprofit. In establishing the FGFJ, a leading role was played by the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), an independent civil society organization established in 1970 to promote international policy dialogue and research. JCIE has been serving as secretariat of FGFJ since its establishment. A multi-party diet task force was created under FGFJ, and a series of symposium and research projects has been convened to explore ways to encourage cross-sectoral cooperation in the fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria and to broaden Japan's international role in combating the global threats of the epidemics. These efforts have helped advocate to Japan's policy makers, legislators and major private sector towards contributing to the Global Fund and its cause. It is the symposium hosted by FGFJ in June 2005, where Prime Minister Koizumi pledged an immediate contribution of 500 million dollars to the Global Fund.

However, the contribution of Japan's NGOs to the Global Fund is not entirely satisfactory. International NGOs in Japan that access the resources of the Global Fund and have ongoing activities in developing countries are only a few, compared to NGOs in Europe and the United States. The Board Meeting of the Global Fund has three seats for NGOs and the parties concerned or interested in the issues of infectious diseases. Japan's NGO sector has sent its members as part of Developed Country NGO delegation three times in total, from the 9th to the 11th Board Meetings.

A special mention of the contribution of Japan's NGOs to the Global Fund is that it pledged donations to the Fund through a campaign called 'Hottokenai Campaign of Japan (Don't Let It Be: World Poverty), Japanese Coalition on Global Call Against Poverty Campaign'. On November 8, 2005, this Campaign announced that it would donate 250,000 dollars to the Global Fund out of its sales of "White Band", which symbolizes its effort towards poverty reduction. This has so far been the largest amount of contribution of a private non-profit organization.

It is also noteworthy that Japanese corporations are gradually becoming aware of the threat of infectious diseases and showing willingness to cooperate with the Global Fund. Notable examples include the development of 'Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Net (LLIN)' by Sumitomo Chemical for the prevention and control of malaria, and its contribution to the malaria project of the Global Fund, and the pro bono offer by All Nippon Airways, one of Japan's leading airlines, of free airtime/print space in its in-flight television and magazine for the promotion of the Global Fund.

One challenge for the Japanese civil society concerning its contribution to the Global Fund is to increase the contribution from the private sector. The other challenge is to expand efforts of Japan's international NGOs in mobilizing resources of the Global Fund to implement activities to fight against infectious diseases in developing countries.

Japan's contribution to the Global Fund has been at a constant intensity in terms of funding scale as well as political impact, and thus it merits higher attention and appeal internationally. Moreover, further contribution by the Japanese civil society should be encouraged.

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