Projects

Dementia Policy in Japan

As average life expectancies grow longer, it becomes increasingly necessary for society to face issues that arise in aging populations. Dementia is a representative example of these issues. An estimated 46,086,000 people live with dementia worldwide today and their number is projected to increase to 74,070,000 people by 2030. Early-onset dementia must also be addressed.
Currently, there are no drugs for directly treating the primary diseases causing dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. The development of new drugs alone, however, is insufficient. Society must be reconstructed in a way that enables people to effectively cope with the urgent issue of dementia on a global scale….

Japan’s Global Health Legacy

Official Development Assistance (ODA)
Japan officially began to engage in global development assistance in 1954 upon joining the Colombo Plan. In the years that followed, Japan initiated economic cooperation activities with countries in Asia in the form of reparations and yen loans in order to build amiable relationships with its neighbors.1
By the end of the 1960s, Japan had developed into a leading player in the foreign aid sphere alongside domestic economic growth. After the concept of Official Development Assistance (ODA) was officially introduced by the OECD in 1969, Japan began to disperse ODA2 and has come be recognized as a major donor country that integrates its unique development history into its development approaches, which often includes investment and trade activities.3…

Background

Characteristics and Challenges
The problems associated with women’s health are extremely diverse. Starting from problems arising from menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth, which are biologically unique to women, the severity, types of problems, and solutions vary depending on the living environment in which each individual grew up and the social background to which she belongs. Women’s health requires not only changes in individual and social systems, but at the same time, a fundamental change in awareness of the problems themselves….

Background and Challenges

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that vaccination is the most cost-effective public health intervention when considering health, social, economic, and educational impacts. Nevertheless, 1.5 million people worldwide are affected by vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD) each year due to lack of or inability to vaccinate. In Japan, society has reacted strongly to health hazards related to vaccination, and there have been cases where immunization policies have had to be reconsidered due to media reports and lawsuits. There is also a phenomenon known as vaccine hesitancy, where people hesitate or refuse to vaccinate themselves or their children. This has led to a situation where routine immunizations cannot be provided to the public on schedule. In addition, VPDs are still being reported in Japan due to changes in the system….

Background and Challenges

Domestic Situation
The average life expectancy in Japan is 87.32 years for women and 81.25 years for men, which is one of the highest in the world. At the same time, cause of death data from Japan shows that there has been a major shift from communicable diseases, during and after World War II, to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer and cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases. NCDs are defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a group of chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and mental health that are caused by unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, smoking, excessive drinking, and air pollution. In Japan, about 82% of the total number of deaths are due to NCDs, a figure that highlights the urgency of this issue. Focusing on disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which is a measure of health loss (disease burden) due to a specific disease or injury, the disease burden is particularly high for cardiovascular disease, cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, mental illness, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, neurological disorders, and gastrointestinal disease….

Background

Current SituationThe healthcare system is one facet of the social infrastructure that brings stability to people’s lives. Since Japan established a universal health insurance system and achieved universal health coverage in 1961, the Japanese healthcare system has supported a world-class society known for its health and longevity. However, the sustainability of the current healthcare system is threatened by various issues, such as an increase in the elderly population, which consumes relatively large amounts of the healthcare budget, a decrease in the working-age population due to a declining birthrate, and a burden on the healthcare system caused by emergencies.

The challenge of promoting innovation, ensuring equitable access, and providing quality healthcare while keeping costs low is common throughout the world….

Challenges in Japan and Abroad

Every year, 700,000 people are thought to die from antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections globally. Without effective measures to address this issue, it is projected that the annual death toll will rise to up to 10 million by 2050. In Japan, the AMR Clinical Reference Center at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine estimates that there were approximately 8,000 deaths in 2017 due to bacteremia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichiacoli (FQREC), two of the most common antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.

Antimicrobial drugs play an important role in modern medicine and have contributed to curing infections and improving patient prognosis. At the same time, AMR has emerged as a serious problem that threatens the future of the country’s health care system, and robust policies are needed to address this growing threat….

Background

Regardless of country or region, issues related to mental health are having significant effects on modern society. In 2017, it was estimated that 4.193 million people in Japan were living with mental health issues and their number is expected to continue to increase. Already, the number of people living with mental health issues is greater than the number of people who have been diagnosed with cancer, stroke, acute myocardial infarction, and diabetes combined. In particular, the number of people receiving outpatient treatment is increasing each year and is estimated to have grown to approximately 3.891 million people in 2017. An estimated 302,000 people are hospitalized with mental health-related issues. Although their number is trending downwards, Japan has the most people hospitalized in psychiatric wards on a per capita basis in the world. According to the 2018 Hospital Report from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), the average length of stay for psychiatric care beds was significantly longer than for general care beds, at 265.8 days and 16.1 days respectively. That report also found significant regional disparities in average lengths of stay. Various factors can cause poor mental health or mental illness. In addition to social and economic stress factors, they include the conditions encountered after natural disasters like the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake or the Great East Japan Earthquake as well as changes in the employment or household environment caused by a worsening economy. For these reasons, issues related to mental health must be approached as issues that affect society as a whole, without responses being limited to the field of healthcare….

Background and Challenges

Domestic and International Situation
The importance of protecting and improving the health of children goes without saying. Over the past few decades, child health has improved and mortality rates for young children have declined [ 1]. However, much remains to be done to further improve the health status of children. More than half of all child deaths are due to conditions that could be easily treated and prevented if access to health care and quality of life were guaranteed.

There are large disparities in child survival rates around the world, with low- and middle-income countries being the most affected. The sub-Saharan region of Africa has the highest child mortality rate in the world, in some places 15 times higher than in high-income countries. Most child deaths are preventable through immunization, proper home care, access to health services, increased breastfeeding rates, and improved nutrition. However, many life-saving interventions do not reach the world’s poorest people….