2025 UHC Day Champion
Hon. Akihisa Shiozaki
Member of the House of Representatives, Japan
Browse other champions
- Countries driving UHC progress
- Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite, Founder and President of UNITE - Parliamentarian’s Network for Global Health
- Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Vice Chair and Senior Advisor, International Health Policy Program Foundation, Thailand
- Solange Mbaye, Regional Programme Manager for Amref Health Africa, Senegal
- Levy Mkandawire, Programme Manager for Amref Health Africa, Zambia
- Concepta Kwaleyela, President of the Midwives Association of Zambia
- Professor Anne Beatrice Kihara, Former President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Kenya
- Hester Mkwinda Nyasulu, Country Manager for Amref, Malawi
- Habibou Ouedraogo, Health Economist, Ministry of Health, Burkina Faso
- Hon. Hyun-Young Shin, Congresswoman, 21st National Assembly of Republic of Korea
UHC has been the most important pillar of Japanese health diplomacy under the human security philosophy in the past few decades. To attain UHC in low- and middle-income countries, we have been working on each of its elements: ensuring access to medical products, investing in information systems, fostering the health workforce, strengthening health financing, expanding service delivery, and establishing governance.
UHC is not just for peacetime, it is vital for health emergencies.
Mr. Akihisa Shiozaki is a key young policymaker driving Japan's integrated approach to domestic social security and global health diplomacy. As Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, he has actively promoted the role of Japan's public health insurance system as a model for advancing universal health coverage (UHC) globally.
His efforts in the Diet and at the 77th World Health Assembly emphasized strengthening global health governance to ensure financial protection worldwide. He successfully elicited government commitment to a UHC strategic framework based on Human Security, pushing for collaboration with WHO and the World Bank. This work centers on sharing Japan's know-how on sustainable health financing and institutional resilience. By connecting UHC to broader issues like climate change and global peace, he underscores that access to healthcare—free from financial hardship—is crucial for human security and social stability, both domestically and internationally.
