The WHO Centre for Health Development (WHO Kobe Centre/WKC) will close its doors on 31 March 2026, marking the end of an era spanning 30 years of WHO’s presence in Kobe promoting health research and development.
The Kobe Group1 – the main donors of the Kobe Centre’s work – announced the discontinuation of 30 years of support from 31 March 2026; for practical reasons, however, the Centre will cease its core technical functions from the end of 2025.
Nonetheless, the research agenda and local engagement activities will continue through established partners and WHO institutions, including:
- The WKC Summer school, an annual awareness-raising and development programme for students aspiring to work in the field of global health, was held for the fourth time this year. In the future, it will be co-hosted by the Osaka University Global Health and Community Medicine Research Unit and the inochi WAKAZO Project.
- The Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management programme will be taken over by the Disaster Risk Reduction team of WHO’s Emergencies Programme in Geneva.
- The Kobe Centre has developed learning courses based on the WHO Guidance on research methods for health emergency and disaster risk management which it led and coordinated in partnership with WHO headquarters. These will be offered online, free-of-charge in English and Japanese through the WHO Academy based in Lyon.
- WKC’s significant contributions to better understand the financing of long-term care will continue at the WHO European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
- The research on unmet health and social care needs will carry on under the WHO HQ Working Group on Unmet Need and Barriers, the WHO Regional Offices of the Americas, South-East Asia, Western Pacific, the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing in partnership with the WHO European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the Consortium for Advancing Research and Evaluation in Tracking Unmet Health & Social Care Needs of Older Populations (CARETRACK).
We extend our sincere gratitude to these partners for continuing our legacy of advancing research for better health and well-being for future generations. We thank the Kobe Group for their sustained commitment to the Centre, and the people of Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe City for their support over the years which enabled so much to be accomplished. Our local and global impact would not have been possible without this assistance.
1 Hyogo Prefecture, the City of Kobe, the Kobe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Kobe Steel Ltd.