Global Health Diplomacy Workshop 2025, Japan
Global Health Diplomacy Workshop 2025 was convened from 29 to 30 November 2025 at the Institute for Global Health Policy Research (iGHP), Japan Institute for Health Security. The workshop is conducted as part of a research grant from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, aimed at developing an effective global health diplomacy training program.
The objectives of the workshop include understanding the governance of international organizations and the preparation processes for governing body meetings. It also aims to equip officials with the skills necessary for effective interventions and negotiations before attending intergovernmental meetings.
The program for this year incorporated the lectures that reflect the current global health ecosystem and its challenges. As lecturers, diplomats shared their real-life experiences in negotiations. Participants actively participated in the role-play exercise of a mock WHO/EB meeting.
A total of 17 participants (in person) and 11 observers (online) joined from the Japanese government, research institutions, an aid agency, and think tanks. The participants made the following comments: “Highly informative lectures and practical exercises significantly deepened my understanding of global health diplomacy.” “Learning how intergovernmental meetings are conducted, prepared for, and deliberated—through insights from lecturers actively engaged on the front lines—combined with hands-on exercises, created a valuable learning experience.” “I realized that finding mutually acceptable compromises toward a common goal is crucial for advancing consensus-building. I also learned the importance of actively communicating while employing various negotiation techniques.”
The program developed by iGHP was partially introduced in the post-graduate course (Nagasaki University) and undergraduate course (Kyushu University).