The “1st NCDs Meeting in Kyushu” was jointly held by the Kidney Disease Control Promotion Project, the Obesity Control Promotion Project, and the Cardiovascular Disease Control Promotion Project of Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI). This meeting was held to deepen the understanding of chronic and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which require intervention and management across the board in communities and workplaces. The meeting also discussed how NCDs measures should be tailored to local conditions and characteristics, as well as to promote the horizontal development of policies. The purpose of the event was to build a network among local governments in order to promote policy development.

After lectures were conducted by specialists in kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and obesity, participants shared good practices and discussed issues and future prospects for each municipality.

The discussion points of the group discussion are as follows.

Issue 1: What are more effective methods and approaches to recommend health checkups to the target population, given the limitations of the current administrative recommendation for health checkups?
Issue 2: What should be the role of prefectures, municipalities, and public health centers, and how should cross-disease collaboration within each municipality be organized?
Issue 3: How can obesity, which is expected to be newly addressed, be integrated into regional measures against cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and diabetes?

Group discussions and a reception held after the meeting provided a lively exchange of opinions and information among the participants.

[Event overview]

• Date & time: Thursday, December 7, 2023; from 13:00 to 18:00 JST
• Format: In-person only
• Target: Persons in charge of measures for kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity in each prefecture and city in Shikoku and Kyushu

[Program]

Part I: Latest trend and topics on Non-communicable Diseases

13:00-13:10 Opening Remarks and Explanatory Introduction

Haruka Sakamoto (Senior Manager, Health and Global Policy Institute)

13:10-13:50 Lecture 1: “The latest trend and evidence on non-communicable diseases -Cardiovascular Diseases-”

Koji Maemura (Professor, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University)

13:50-14:30 Lecture 2: “Fighting the Obesity Pandemic: fostering empathy – building a society that moves beyond individual responsibility to support those struggles with obesity”

Ichiro Tatsuno (Chairman, Japanese Society for Treatment of Obesity / President, Chiba Prefectural University of Health Sciences)

14:30-15:10 Lecture 3: “Trends in Pathophysiology and Treatment of Renal Diseases – Including Regional Cooperation and Future Prospects”

Masashi Mukoyama (Professor, Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University)

15:10-15:20 Break (10 minutes)

Part II: Group Discussion

15:20-16:55 Group Discussion by Administrative Officers
Theme: “Lessons Learned, Challenges and Future Prospects in NCDs Control in Local Governments”
Sharing best practices (in no particular order): Kumamoto prefecture and Nagasaki prefecture

Moderator:
Ryoji Noritake (CEO, Board Member, Health and Global Policy Institute)
Eri Yoshimura (Senior Manager, Health and Global Policy Institute)

16:55-17:00 Summary of Discussion and Closing remarks

Haruka Sakamoto (Senior Manager, Health and Global Policy Institute)

17:00-18:00 Receptions and Networking