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Japanʼs history for combatting
infectious diseases

In 1930s and 1940s Japan, malaria, TB, schistosomiasis, and
soil-transmitted helminths were endemic.

In order to address these issues, community-based public health programs organized by government leaders,
healthcare professionals, researchers, and individual citizens resulted in the effective elimination
and subsequent eradication of these diseases in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s.

The world recognized Japanʼs recovery and rapid economic growth during the decade following World War II
as nothing short of miraculous.
The countryʼs game-changing post-war public health programs now
form the basis of many WHO disease elimination strategies.

After several decades of increasing scientific and public health successes domestically,
as well as overseas development aid globally, in the 1990s Japan also catalyzed numerous
major global health initiatives, such as the Hashimoto Initiative
to support international parasite control.

Japan also played a major role in creating the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

In 2013, GHIT Fund, the world's first public-private global health R&D fund was established.

Today, in tireless continuation of its quest to eliminate infectious diseases,
the GHIT Fund serves as a catalyst to the development of new
and much needed pharmaceuticals

for global health by leveraging Japanʼs
technology and innovation.