In the face of ongoing demographic change driven by a declining birthrate and population aging, Japan must find successful methods of increasing the number of births while taking steps to provide seamless support for children that spans pregnancy to adulthood to give children a safe and secure environment in which to grow. The Basic Law for Child and Maternal Health and Development (or the “Act On Promoting Comprehensive Measures for the Seamless Provision of Child Care, Medical Care for Health and Development, and Other Necessary Forms of Care to People Currently in the Growth Process, Their Guardians, and Expectant and Nursing Mothers”) was enacted in 2018 with the objective of further expanding support for children and child-rearing. Further action was taken in 2021, when the Cabinet approved the Basic Plan on Child and Maternal Health, Development, and Medical Care and set a direction for Government measures moving forward. While the enactment of this Basic Law and Plan were groundbreaking developments, we have yet to see the conclusion of discussions aiming to produce specific measures for the national Government and local governments to implement as well as monitoring indicators for those measures, so it is desirable that multi-stakeholder action is taken to crystallize issues and identify discussion points for these purposes.

Given this backdrop, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) established the Child Health Project and presented urgent recommendations in February 2023. The urgent recommendations are based on hearings with specialists in each field and we are now working to see them reflected in future initiatives from the national Government and local governments. Our urgent recommendations call for the promotion of public-private partnerships and collaboration across ministries and municipalities, raise the need to evaluate policies from a biopsychosocial perspective, and advocate for the importance of expanding best practices developed by local governments to each municipality.

To broadly publicize these policy recommendations and to intensify discussions on this topic, HGPI will host a public forum that will feature a keynote lecture from Prof. Takashi Igarashi (President and Chief Executive Officer, National Center for Child Health and Development). Prof. Igarashi has worked to advance policies for child health for many years and guides our efforts as a special advisor for HGPI’s Child Health Project. In addition, Dr. Hanako Jimi, a member of the House of Councilors and co-chair of the Children First Study Group on Child and Family Administration, will speak on “Achieving a “Children First” Society”.

Details on this hybrid in-person/online public forum are provided as follows.

 

 

[Event Overview]

• Date & time: Thursday, April 6, 2023; 16:00-18:00 JST
• Format: Hybrid format (in-person lecture at venue with Zoom webinar)
• Venue: Grand Cube, Otemachi Financial City, Global Business Hub Tokyo
  ACCESS (Otemachi Financial City, 1-9-2 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
• Host: Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)
• Language: Japanese
• Participation fee: Free
• Capacity: Venue: 30 people, Online: 200 people
  The application deadline for those who wish to attend the in-person event is 23:59 a.m. on Sunday, April 2, 2023. Application results will not be available immediately after registration. Attendees will be selected by a draw of lots. Those who have applied to join the in-person event will be notified of selection results on Monday, April 3, 2023. Individual members will be prioritized during the selection process.
  
  

[Program] (titles omitted; in no particular order)

16:00-16:20 Opening remarks and explanatory introduction: An Introduction of HGPI’s Urgent Recommendations

Ryoji Noritake (Board Member and CEO, HGPI)

16:20-16:30 Next Steps for Implementing and Applying the Basic Law and Basic Plan for Child Health Based on the Urgent Recommendations

Sonoko Sensaki (Assistant Director, Children’s Think Tank Planning and Coordination Office, National Center for Child Health and Development)

16:35-17:20 Keynote lecture 1: Viewpoints on the Promotion of a Different Dimension of Policies for Children in the Future

Takashi Igarashi (President and Chief Executive Officer, National Center for Child Health and Development)

17:25-17:45 Keynote lecture 2: Achieving a “Children First” Society

Hanako Jimi (Member, House of Councilors)

17:50-18:00 Closing remarks

Kiyoshi Kurokawa (Chairman, HGPI)

 

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■ Speaker’s Profile

Takashi Igarashi (President, National Center for Child Health and Development)
Dr. Igarashi graduated Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo in 1978. After completing the training of general Pediatrics, he received Pediatric Nephrology training at Kiyose Metropolitan Children’s Hospital and at Pediatrics, The University of Tokyo.  He studied immunology and molecular biology at Division of Immunology, Boston Children’s Hospital. He got Ph.D. degree of The University of Tokyo in 1989. He received seven prizes in several different medical societies.  He was a chairman and professor of Pediatrics, The University of Tokyo. He worked as a Vice President of The University of Tokyo Hospital for 7 years. Now, he is a professor emeritus of The University of Tokyo. He was a member of Science Council of Japan, the president of Japan Pediatric Society, the councilor of Japanese Society of Nephrology and the president of Japanese Society of Pediatric Nephrology.
He is now an honorable member of American Pediatric Society, the president of Japan Children’s Environment Association. He is the president of National Center for Child Health and Development in Tokyo.

Hanako Jimi (Member, House of Councilors)
Dr. Jimi was born in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture and raised in Kitakyushu City. She graduated from the College of International Relations at the University of Tsukuba Third Cluster of Colleges in 1998 and graduated from the Department of Medicine at Tokai University School of Medicine in 2004.She is a pediatrician and an associate professor at Tokai University School of Medicine. After working in the Departments of Pediatrics at University of Tokyo Hospital, Ome City Municipal General Hospital, and Toranomon Hospital, she was elected to the Japanese House of Councilors national proportional representation block for the first time in 2016. She has served as acting director of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Women’s Affairs Division and Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare since September 2019. She currently serves as board member of the House of Councilors Committee on Health, Welfare and Labour, as vice-chairperson of the Health, Labour and Welfare Committee, Chief of Secretariat of Anti-COVID-19 Measures for Inbound Tourists at Head Office for Anti-COVID-19 Measures Committee of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Policy Research Council and director of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Women’s Affairs Division.