Saeda MAKIMOTO is the principal research fellow at the JICA Ogata Research Institute for Peace and Development, and the senior deputy director general in charge of global health at JICA’s Human Development Department. She began her professional career at JICA as a program manager in Asia at the headquarters, and was seconded to the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, where she worked extensively on polio eradication and the EPI program. During her career, she expanded her work to sub-Saharan Africa and gained experience in infectious disease control, RMCH and health systems, as well as field operations and development partners partnerships in country offices in Bangladesh and Lao PDR. The JICA Ogata Research Institute is the in-house research organization of JICA and is committed to Japan’s national strategy for international development. In terms of policy-level research, she led the Think20 (T20) thematic group on UHC at the G20 Osaka Summit and made policy recommendations to the G20 leaders, and she has been involved in impact evaluations of health cooperation projects and research on the impact of COVID-19. She also contributed to the flagship report “Human Security Today” to provide perspectives on health and COVID-19. Currently she is also involved in the Global Symposium of Health Systems Research 2024 (HSR2024) as a part of the Local Organizing Committee.