Peter Sands, the new executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, arrived in Japan with a hopeful message: “The exciting thing is that we can now talk meaningfully, not only about saving lives but about ending the epidemics.”

Mr. Sands and his colleagues from the Global Fund—Christoph Benn, Osamu Kunii, and Makiko Takayama—had a jam-packed two-day schedule that included meetings with the Friends of the Global Fund, Japan’s Diet Task Force and Advisory Board, a symposium co-organized by JCIE and the International AIDS Society on “Ending AIDS by 2030: Science, Community, and Political Commitment,” courtesy calls on Health Minister Katsunobu Kato and State Min. of Foreign Affairs Kazuyuki Nakane, and a roundtable with CSO leaders (co-organized by the Africa Japan Forum and FGFJ). He spoke at the Global Fund Career Seminar at Sophia University and with members of the media. 

Finally, to commemorate both Mr. Sands’ visit and World Malaria Day (April 25), JCIE and the British Embassy in Tokyo co-hosted a reception, where we welcomed ambassadors from African countries to Japan, the former Minister of Health Yasuhisa Shiozaki (Chairman of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group), and Representative Ichiro Aisawa (Co-chair of the Friends of the Global Fund, Japan), among others. The group was treated to a production of a traditional Japanese kyogen performance that depicted a battle between a master and an enchanted mosquito disguised as a sumo wrestler.

For more information on this event, please visit the FGFJ Website.