Date

Location

G20 Okayama Health Ministers’ Meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mr. KATO Katsunobu, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. In addition to the G20 members, invited countries and international organizations such as WHO and the OECD attended the meeting. They had active discussions on three themes: the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC);*1 the response to population aging; and the management of health risk and health security, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR).*2 It was the first time for G20 Health Ministers to discuss the response to population aging in their meeting. Minister KATO discussed and shared Japan’s experiences as a front runner in population aging. On the topic of the achievement of UHC, G20 health ministers discussed how they would contribute to the achievement of UHC by 2030. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Ministers’ Declaration was adopted, incorporating the policy direction necessary to address the three themes. The G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting and Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting are two of the related ministerial meetings that are held in addition to the G20 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy (G20 Summit). This G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting was held as a related ministerial meeting to the G20 Osaka Summit, which was held in June and chaired by Japan.

*1 Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
Situation where all people can use the promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services at a cost they can afford

*2 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
Condition where a drug no longer has an effect on microbes, due to the continued inappropriate use of antimicrobial drugs.