******* The Final Report has been published on September 3, 2018.
For more information, please refer to the PDF.

Health and Global Policy Institute held the NCD Global Forum for Civil Society, Diabetes Session – Patient Leader Workshops and Open Forum on Tuesday, May 29, 2018.

NCDs such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases, have become a major health issue word-wide. According to statistics from the WHO, 39.5 million people died due to NCDs in 2015, accounting for approximately 70% of all causes of mortality. The fact that three in four of those deaths occurred in low- to middle-income countries is also an urgent global health issue.

 

Even in developed countries including Japan, a scattering of issues remains:

• Healthcare systems are unprepared to respond to changes in disease structure due to increases in NCDs (E.g. the necessity for proactive patient self-management and for the creation of policy development systems that further acknowledge patient voices)
• While innovative medications and medical devices are being continually created within the field of NCDs, cost rebalancing and healthcare system sustainability are also necessary
• Civil society leaders who understand the importance of innovation in the field of NCDs as well as the overall healthcare system and can share and communicate that value are in demand
• There is little recognition of the fact that NCDs are a global health issue (E.g. the necessity of sharing lessons learned and best practices between developed and emerging markets, and the need for financial support from the global society)

Amidst these challenges, momentum is also mounting internationally for NCDs agenda advocacy, and voices are being raised by the NCD Alliance, a collaborative platform established in 2009 and participated in by approximately 2000 civic society organizations and academic associations that has expanded to around 170 countries. At the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2018, another High Level Meeting focusing on the theme of NCDs will be held, as has been done since 2014 (Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI), registered as a Japan’s official NCD Alliance point-of-contact, is promoting this momentum).

In order to confront the current situation and its aforementioned issues, HGPI will hold global forums within each therapeutic area to crystalize policy issues from patients’ perspectives, to propose necessary policies, and to bring together multi-stakeholders such as industry, academia, policy makers, and civil society including patient leaders from both inside and outside Japan to amass discussion on a level playing field.

HGPI will work toward constructing a patient-centered healthcare system, taking an active role in planning from the points of view of patients and will unearth civil society leaders able to disseminate policy issues who are additionally able to appreciate the value of innovation, are globally-minded, and who understand the standpoint of global health.

To that end, at this first session focusing on diabetes, workshops and an opinion exchange were held for patient leaders along with a global forum, and international civil society leaders took part in the workshops and opinion exchange, invigorating the discussions.

 

■Patient Leader Workshops

Co-Organizers: 
Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)
Kanja Speaker Bank (KSB)
Japan Chronic Disease Self-Management Association (J-CDSMA)
Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD)

Participants:
Patient leaders, next-generation patient leaders, patient leaders from abroad, academia, members of industry, etc.

During the workshop, entitled “The Next Move in Diabetes Policy, with Patients’ Concerns as the Starting Point, Considered by Multi-stakeholders,” invigorating discussions took place.

 

■Open Forum

Welcoming Remarks (pre-recorded)

Kiyoshi Kurokawa (Chairman, HGPI)

 

Report from Patient Leader Workshops and Opinion Exchange

Hiroki Takeda (Executive Director, Japan Chronic Disease Self-Management Association (J-CDSMA))

 

Keynote Address 1: Diabetes Policy in MHLW

Masakazu Aihara (Deputy Director, Health Service Division, Health Service Bureau, MHLW)

 

Keynote Address 2: Japan’s Diabetes Care and Policy Issues

Kojiro Ueki (Director, Diabetes Research Center, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM))

 

Special Session: Global Cooperation on NCDs Beginning with Diabetes

Kenneth Thorpe (Chairman, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD))

 

 

Panel Discussion:
Global Trends and Future Outlook of Patient-Centered Diabetes Care and Management in the Community

Panelists:
Kojiro Ueki
Ole Mølskov Bech (President and Representative Director, Novo Nordisk Japan Ltd.)
Christina Parsons Perez (Capacity Development Director, NCD Alliance)
Kenneth Thorpe
Kensuke Nose (Co-Representative, Patients groups MYSTAR-JAPAN )
Yusuke Yamazaki (Registered Nurse, Hiroshima City Asa Citizens Hospital)

Moderator:
Ryoji Noritake (President, HGPI)

(No particular order and titles omitted)
(Photographed by: Kazunori Izawa)