FGFJ Diet Task Force

The FGFJ Diet Task Force is a multi-party initiative that brings together Diet members to examine ways to broaden Japan’s international role in combating the global threats of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other communicable diseases. The task force convenes several times a year with experts and leaders from around the world to discuss global health issues. Topics of previous meetings have included the connection between climate and health, the latest prevention and treatment tools for AIDS, pandemic prevention and preparedness, climate variation’s impact on malaria, and more.

In addition to meeting with representatives of the Global Fund when they are visiting Japan, the Diet Task Force has met with such prominent global health and foreign policy actors as George Soros, founder of the Open Society Institute; Surin Pitsuwan, former secretary-general of ASEAN and former Foreign Minister of Thailand; Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation; Richard Feachem, former Global Fund executive director; and Tommy S. Thompson, chair emeritus of the Global Fund and former US Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The Diet Task Force also engages in visits to Global Fund-supported sites to see first-hand how Japan’s support for the Global Fund is making an impact in the field and to grasp the challenges that government officials and communities continue to face. Task Force members meet with community leaders, aid workers, and national policymakers working on AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis and visit treatment sites and communities dealing with these diseases. Previous site visits have taken place in Vietnam, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Cambodia.