Learning to Manage Health Crises in International Settings


As global interactions become more complex in today’s post-pandemic era, we are witnessing the broader implications of a regional health crisis on international and regional issues. This March 2021,  our Research Associate Riyani Sidek attended the Global Health Innovation Policy Program (GHIPP) Crisis Simulation Workshop which was partially funded by the US Department of State and empowered by Japan Institute for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. While previous Crisis Simulation Workshops were held at the Graduate Institute for Policy Study (GRIPS) in Japan, this year’s workshop was held online and involved 24 participants from the Philippines, Vietnam, the US, Romania, Ghana, Mongolia, Brunei, Bangladesh, and Japan. 

Participants were grouped into teams for respective country roles – Japan, China, the United States, and US and India. Each country group was given different national priorities that required each team to decide on various policies and responses, including how to deal with domestic constituents and the international community. These decisions were reached through intense discussions with team members and negotiations with other nations in bilateral and/or multilateral settings. 

The participants were given a scenario to assess the human rights violations in India, the availability of COVID-19 vaccines in four countries and responding to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics depending on each national priority. On each day, participants were to meet in a team-only room, although they were also free to meet other teams for open negotiations as well. At  the end of day two, everyone joined together in a plenary session to discuss and debate the crisis.

Riyani in a Zoom discussion with international participants

Riyani in a Zoom discussion with international participants

Riyani was allocated to the Japan team, where the national priority was to avoid any regional trade disruption, prevent another COVID-19 outbreak that could slow the economy, tighten the U.S-Japan alliance, build cooperation with India, and to stand firm against pressure from China in the East China Sea. Participants engaged in intensive debates that began with encouraging China to postpone the Beijing 2022 Olympics in the hope to reduce conflicts in India as agreed in a trilateral agreement between Japan, India, and the US. However, in the plenary discussion, Japan proceeded to support China on hosting the Beijing 2022 Olympics despite the US’ refusal to send coaches and athletes to the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Japan was confident that China would postpone the Beijing 2022 Olympics due to the lack of athlete participation as a majority of the athletes participating would be from the US. 

The workshop ended with welcoming remarks from the Project Director Dr. Hiromi Murakami thanking the facilitators from GRIPS Narushige Mischishita, Hiromi Murakami, and Mayumi Sugitam as well as Zack Cooper from the American Enterprise Institute.

For more information on the Global Health Innovation Policy Program at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Japan, check out: http://www3.grips.ac.jp/~GHIPP/en/


by Riyani Sidek

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