Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) CEO and Board Member Mr. Ryoji Noritake gave a lecture entitled “Examining Issues and Future Prospects for Data Health in Japan Based on Circumstances Overseas” at a meeting of the Parliamentary Association for Promoting Brighter Social Security Reform.

The Parliamentary Association for Promoting Brighter Social Security Reform was formed in November 2019 from. Its predecessor was the Study Group on Brighter Social Security Reform, which was established in 2018. It is a Diet member association formed by the Liberal Democratic Party and it aims to build a society in which all members of the public can live long, active, and healthy lives in the era of the 100-year lifespan.

During his lecture, Mr. Noritake said that it is necessary for Japan to consider the successful promotion of data health as an urgent national issue and that the public must be engaged in relevant discussions. He stressed the need to gather health data which is currently spread among various databases and to unify it (such as by linking it to the My Number system) to create health data for the entire life course for every member of the public. After introducing HGPI’s “2016 Survey on Public Awareness of Medical ICT in Japan,” Mr. Noritake shared one of its findings that younger people are more willing to cooperate with Government-run health and medical data collection and management initiatives. He also pointed out that proactive efforts to generate proposals from cancer patient organizations helped advance the creation of a nationwide cancer registry. Mr. Noritake also shared an example from the field of women’s health, where people are sharing their data with healthcare institutions using smartphone applications. Using these examples to illustrate public understanding towards data health, Mr. Noritake expressed his anticipation for Government leadership in cross-ministerial efforts to promote data health with a foundation of public understanding.