“What should be taught in the lectures of International Health?” is the important issue in the field of education on health, because there is few standard, guideline, or consensus about the contents of lectures on International Health now in Japan. Therefore, each school, such as medical university, nursing school, post-graduate school, and so on, has different curriculums on International Health.
In this occasion, I would like to propose that the Association of International Health should formulate some recommendations on “what should be taught” in this field of International Health for the students of different specialties.These recommendations can be meaningful to standardize the curriculums on International Health in schools on health and to be the first step to provide the study opportunities for the students who are interested in International Health but have few opportunities to learn it.In addition, some “new point of view or sense” which we can learn through the humanitarian assistance activities for developing countries should be included in the lectures for fostering the humanities of the students.

The research project titled “Developing Technical Approaches for the Master Plan of the Health Sector International Cooperation ” has been conducted for the duration of three years from 2002 by the support of grants-in-aid for research on international medical cooperation from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Based upon comprehensive and detailed review on the development studies (DS) in the health sectors so far completed, and throughout extensive and detailed examinations on the various DS related issues at the organized workshops with the parties concerned, the following propositions were made for the orientation and possible improvement of future DS in the health sectors; 1) a master plan in the individual DS to be defined in association with the level of strategy with which the study deals, 2) the instruction of surveys and methods to be more crystallized, 3) appropriate survey methods with reproducibility to be employed, 4) qualitative researches to be complimentarily exercised with quantitative researches 5) the ownership of DS to be cultivated by adoption of participatory methods.

  Health service provision is one of the components in Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Medicines are vital for health services, and they should be affordable and accessible for safe and appropriate usage for everyone.  This article is a report on the symposium “Medicines for UHC,” held in the academic meeting of the Japanese Association of International Health in December 2017.  In Lao PDR, a study was conducted in urban and rural hospitals examining lists of available medicines, as well as their usage, distribution, and prices. The study showed that neurological medicines including anesthetics made up 29% of all medicines used in the urban central hospital, as it was one of the few hospitals that provided complex surgeries in Laos, resulting in a high concentration of patients. Anti-tuberculosis, ARV, and anti-Malaria medicines, as well as vaccines, were provided by Global Fund, GAVI, and other organizations, so that their costs were not included in the hospital’s procurement lists. While anti-microbial medicines only accounted for 13% of the medicines used at the urban central hospital, they accounted for 43% of those in rural hospitals, where most patients presented with upper respiratory and digestive infections. While the Ministry of Health sets the standards for evaluating and regulating the quality and cost of medicine, individuals can purchase medicines from private pharmacies without prescriptions, making it difficult to evaluate appropriate usage.  Regarding the quality of medicines, distribution companies, health workers, and patients cannot distinguish between authentic and falsified or substandard medicines. As an example, after a study in Cambodia revealed the existence of inappropriate medicines, the Cambodian government required companies to provide results of dissolution tests.  As the limitations on pharmaceutical regulatory authorities and their staff in developing countries impact their capabilities, we recommend supporting them in establishing effective pharmaceutical regulations internationally.