More than 1,000 defense health professionals from 22 nations gathered in Yokohama, Japan, recently for the Indo-Pacific Military Health Exchange to discuss advances in operational medicine, global health security and force health protection.
The event, hosted by Japan and the United States with the theme “Future of Military Medicine Interoperability: Building Resilience in a Changing World,” also included sessions on education, training and interoperability; combat casualty care; peacekeeping operations and protecting vulnerable populations; military medical research; and public health.
“The challenges we face today are no longer confined within national borders. They have become global issues that concern all of humanity,” said Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Maj. Gen. Yasunori Mizuguchi, surgeon general and deputy director general logistics and medical department, Japan Joint Staff.
Participants included Australia, Canada, French Polynesia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
“I think it’s pretty easy to draw a link between what we’re doing here, which is about sharing ideas and building relationships, with the successes over the years, primarily in disaster response and working together,” U.S. Navy Capt. Peter Roberts, command surgeon for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the Stars and Stripes newspaper.
He cited multinational efforts following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami — which killed 228,000 people and left 2 million homeless in 14 countries including India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand — as a defining example of regional medical cooperation.
“I think that event not only highlighted what we’re capable of doing together, but it also stressed the importance of kind of doubling down on that effort,” Roberts said.
Success requires adaptation, said Dr. Stephen Ferrara, acting assistant U.S. secretary of war for health affairs and one of the keynote speakers.
“The battlefield, as we have long known it, is changing rapidly. The next fight will not look like the last one. The front lines are now everywhere,” said Ferrara, noting that medical units, supply chains, communications networks and hospitals should be considered part of the battlefield. “To fight and to win in this environment, we must adapt.”
That requires partnerships. “Just as no single Soldier can win a war, no single nation can face these challenges alone,” he said. “Our strength depends on how seamlessly we can operate together as an unbreakable alliance of professionals, of innovators and of partners.”
The exchange, held in December 2025, was hosted by Japan for the first time and underscored Tokyo’s leadership in advancing regional military health cooperation. For instance, JGSDF and U.S. personnel worked together to demonstrate combat casualty care that highlighted interoperable, life-saving techniques and emerging battlefield medical technologies.
The biennial exchange rotates among partner nations to deepen relationships and build shared capacity across the Indo-Pacific.
“The discussions on disaster response, military medicine and regional cooperation reminded us how interconnected our futures are,” said Timor-Leste Defense Force Col. Guido De Oliveira. “We return to Timor‑Leste with new ideas, renewed motivation, and a deeper sense of belonging in this growing network of nations committed to protecting the health and dignity of our people.”
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