With estimates showing that 1 in 5 lives with chronic pain and loss of productivity brings huge impacts on society in Japan. Chronic pain is complex conditions and ones that is difficult to treat, it is highly evident that multi-disciplinary treatment and care is needed. With these circumstances in mind, in FY2022, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) compiled a policy recommendation entitled “Achieving Equity in Multidisciplinary Pain Treatment and Support Systems for Pain Management” based on hearings with patient advocacy organizations, healthcare providers, representatives of academia in the field of chronic pain, and other stakeholders. Issues that were identified included promoting education and raising awareness toward pain; establishing systems to provide specialized, multidisciplinary pain treatment; making primary care more comprehensive to respond to the complex issues of pain; establishing evidence and evaluation systems to gauge the effectiveness of various interventions; and the direction of comprehensive policy measures that encompass these issues.

Based on these previous discussions, this expert meeting focused on a policy framework needed to integrate wide variety of interventions.

The summary of this event can be found on the event report attached at the bottom.

[Event Overview]

• Date & Time: Thursday, November 16, 2023; from 17:00 to 19:00 JST
• Format: Online (Zoom webinar)
• Language: Japanese and English, with simultaneous interpretation
• Participation fee: Free
• Host: Health and Global Policy Institute
• Co-host: Japan Pain Foundation
• Sponsor: National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) Global Health Innovation Policy Program (GHIPP)

[Programme] (Times are in JST (GMT+9))