The Bulletin of the World Health Organization, one of the top 15 journals in the field of public and environmental health, has featured an editorial of the WHO Kobe Centre’s (WKC) 30 years of contributions in its December 2025 edition.
Drawing from the Centre’s 30th Anniversary Report, Dr Sarah Louise Barber, who served as WKC’s director for the past eight years, reflected on its achievements as an outposted WHO Headquarters office in Kobe, Japan.
1996-2005: Positioned Kobe on the global public health stage by convening major international meetings.
2006-2015: Established WKC as a research hub, producing landmark works such as the Knowledge Network on Urban Settings Report, and two WHO global reports on urban health with UN-Habitat.
2016-2025: Advanced innovative policies on service delivery and financing for sustainable universal health coverage (UHC) for older people, improved metrics for monitoring progress towards UHC in ageing societies, strengthened disaster risk management research, and coordinated the development of WHO’s first reference book on research methods in health emergencies and disaster risk management.
In the past decade alone, WKC collaborated with nearly 160 global and domestic research institutions, published over 250 WHO and peer-reviewed works, and leveraged its partner networks to actively translate research into policy.
The editorial pays tribute to the Centre’s major funders, the Kobe Group¹, and the Hyogo and Kobe communities for their sustained support over 30 years. Although it will close in March 2026, the Centre’s legacy will live on through its partners and the impact of its work for future generations.
1 Hyogo Prefecture, Kobe City, Kobe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Kobe Steel Ltd.