The Health and Global Policy Institute has recently launched the “Integrated Health and Lifestyle Support Project for Elderly People Living in Yamada Town, Iwate Prefecture”, as part of our support efforts for the disaster areas.

Together with the US medical support organization Project HOPE, we have already previously been involved in the provision of support for Yamada Town, such as with human resources in the medical field. As a result of this we have already established strong connections with various stakeholders in Yamada Town who are involved in health and lifestyle support, such as the Town Mayor Shinitsu Sato, and the deputy-director of Kondo Hospital Yuji Kondo.
With these connections as a base, this project aims to further advance integrated health and lifestyle support for the elderly using advanced information technologies.

■Purpose
This project aims to provide assistance for the re-building of integrated health and lifestyle support systems for elderly people based in the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster-affected Yamada Town, Iwate Prefecture, in order to help provide a living environment in which the elderly can have some peace of mind.

■Overview
We are going to carry out the following:
・ Formation of a consortium that gathers together the main stakeholders involved in health and lifestyle support in Yamada Town
・ Establishment of a place where information can be exchanged on a periodic basis by primary consortium members and LASF
・ Carrying out the surveys of the elderly, and carrying out integrated health and lifestyle support activities

In particular, we hope to carry out the construction of a comprehensive support system focusing on prevention and early intervention for things that are of concern due to the greater risk in the elderly, such as non-communicable diseases and mental health issues. Furthermore, we aim to produce a set of guidelines from the knowledge gained from this project, and to provide a baseline of information for horizontal spread amongst other municipalities carrying out integrated health and lifestyle support activities for the elderly.

■Our Partner
Leading Aging Society Forum (LASF)( Dr. Shinsuke Muto, Chirman)
・ The Leading Aging Society Forum is investigating the construction of a comprehensive service model for local community support of the elderly, and is organizing consortiums on the theme of home-medicine, which engage academia, industry, government and civil society.
Currently the Forum is particularly focused on developing activities that provide integrated health and lifestyle support to victims of the earthquake and tsunami disaster who are still living in their own homes in Ishinomaki City.
 URL (provided in Japanese only) : http://www.you-homeclinic.or.jp/Dr_muto/

■Support organizations
・ Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited.
・ Project HOPE
・ Medtronic Foundation

■Project execution dates (TBD)
October 2012 – September 2014

Exhibition date：2012-12-04