Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) is a non-profit, independent, non-partisan think tank established in 2004 that views dementia as a global-level health policy issue and that has worked continuously to advance dementia policy around the world. Under its stated mission of “promoting multi-stakeholder collaboration for dementia policy,” the HGPI Dementia Policy Project aims to deepen relationships with diverse stakeholders while conducting surveys and research and offering policy recommendations. These activities are based on three pillars: (1) building a global platform; (2) emphasizing the perspectives of those most affected; and (3) identifying and disseminating policy issues.

It goes without saying that the roles of parties like the government, civil society, and healthcare and long-term care professionals will be vital for achieving a dementia-inclusive society, but we must not overlook the roles of companies, which supply society with various products and services and that enable people to maintain their livelihoods in their essential role as employers. Perspective 3 of HGPI’s April 2024 policy recommendations titled, “Three Necessary Perspectives for Formulating the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Policies on Dementia: Creating a Society That is Inclusive for All People at All Times” reads, “Establish employment and support systems that enable people living with dementia and family caregivers to stay in the workforce.” The recommendations highlighted that historically, the role of companies in dementia policy has primarily consisted of engaging in social contributions or CSR activities, such as providing dementia support or helping to make society barrier-free, or by serving as providers of products and services. Regarding the roles of companies in the future, our recommendations express anticipation for companies to proactively advance efforts to recognize dementia as an issue that affects them and to further enhance the employment environment and support.

The Basic Act on Dementia to Promote an Inclusive Society (or, the Basic Act on Dementia) came into effect on January 1, 2024 and designates September as “Dementia Month” and September 21 as “Dementia Day.” These correspond to World Alzheimer’s Month and World Alzheimer’s Day. We will be holding an HGPI Seminar to commemorate Dementia Month and World Alzheimer’s Month in 2024. At this seminar, our aim is to examine case studies from companies in various industries that are involved in dementia to ascertain where industry is today in the effort to create a dementia-inclusive society, and to consider what role industry should fulfill in the future.

[Event Overview]

• Date & Time: Thursday, September 19, 2024; from 15:00 to 17:00 JST
• Format: Online (Zoom webinar) (Not available for recording)
  *The presentation slides and edited recording will be shared with individual supporting members only at a later date.
• Language: Japanese
• Participation Fee: Free
• Capacity: 500 participants

[Program]

◼︎Profile

Mr. Nobuyuki Kii (General Manager and Principal, Research and Consulting Division, The Japan Research Institute, Limited)
Mr. Nobuyuki Kii graduated from the Kyoto University School of Economics in 1999 and joined The Japan Research Institute, Limited. While working, he later obtained an MBA from Kobe University. At The Japan Research Institute, Limited, Mr. Kii’s past duties have included business-to-consumer consulting in marketing and new business development. In his current role, which he assumed in April 2018, Mr. Kii’s duties involve public-private research and consulting in the field of services for elderly people and long-term care based on the concept of “Contributing to the creation of a super-aging society that is full of well-being by serving as a hub for industry, government, academia, long-term care settings, and policy.” Starting with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Orange Innovation Project, Mr. Kii contributes to advancing a variety of projects related to dementia for the national Government, local governments, and industry.

Mr. Takeyuki Murata (General Manager, Operations Division, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc.)
Mr. Takeyuki Murata joined Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc. in 1998. After being involved in advertising operations as a member of the Sales Section, he transferred to the Program Section, where his duties mainly involved production on information and variety programs. Specials produced by Mr. Murata have won awards such as the Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association Award and the Japan Broadcast Culture Award. He later transferred to the Management Section, where he was involved in a broad variety of operations including management planning, strategic planning, campaigns, events, new projects, CSR, and alliances. In addition to serving as a producer for business-related programs, his current duties include planning and implementing various campaigns and company projects.

Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) launched the website “Japan’s Patient Expert Platform (J-PEP)” on 21 August 2024.

Since its establishment in 2004, HGPI has upheld the mission to realize citizen-centered health policies. We have been engaged in policy advocacy activities based on discussions among multi-stakeholders, including healthcare providers, researchers, business representatives, administrative and legislative officials, and people with lived experience of health conditions. Additionally, we have supported the meaningful involvement of people with lived experience in policy-making process. In recent years, the importance of meaningful involvement has been recognised and practiced widely. However, emerging challenges, such as a shortage of individuals to be involved and limitations in collecting diverse voices of people with lived experience, have been pointed out.

In light of this situation, Meaningful Involvement Promotion Project has aimed to promote meaningful involvement of people with lived experience, considering the current social situations. To achieve that, we have conducted discussions among advisory board members and conducted hearings with a wider range of stakeholders. Based on the insights gained from these previous activities, we have established a free membership website for people with lived experience, named “Japan’s Patient Expert Platform (J-PEP).”

This initial release precedes the full launch scheduled for autumn 2024, providing an overview of J-PEP and allowing for the pre-registration.

To view further details, click here.

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Support Project Phase 1 (- July 2024) List of Stakeholders

Advisory Board Member (Titles omitted; in Japanese alphabetical order by last name)

Kyoko Ama (Representative, Children and Healthcare Project; Fellow, HGPI)
Shinsuke Amano (Chair, The Japan Federation of Cancer Patient Groups; CEO, Group Nexus Japan)
Etsuko Aruga (Professor, Department of Palliative Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine)
Naomi Sakurai (President, Cancer Solutions Co., Ltd)
Takeshi Shukunobe (President and CEO, PPeCC)
Kazuyuki Suzuki (Senior Lead, Patient Engagement Group, Strategy & Execution, Novartis Pharma K.K.)
Yasuhiro Sensho (CEO, SENSHO-GUMI, Co., Ltd.; Former Director-General, MHLW)
Teppei Maeda (Lawyer, Maeda & Unosawa Law Offices; Representative, Medical Basic Act Community)
Kaori Muto (Professor, Department of Public Policy Studies, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo)
Akira Morita (Representative Director, Next Generation Fundamental Policy Research Institute (NFI))
Ikuko Yamaguchi (Chief Director, Consumer Organization for Medicine and Law (COML))
Risa Yamazaki (Public Affairs Group, External Affairs Department, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., LTD.)

Project sponsors (in Japanese alphabetical order)

Syneos Health Commercial K.K.
Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Novartis Pharma K.K.

Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) will host an online information session for people with lived experience with health concerns regarding the website Japan’s Patient Expert Platform, or J-PEP, which was launched on August 21 2024.

Under our stated mission of “Achieving citizen-centered health policy,” HGPI views the active involvement of people with lived experience in the policymaking process as a crucial theme, and is engaged in various activities to promote such initiatives.

Based on previous discussions and activities in this area, HGPI launched a member-exclusive website called J-PEP in August 2024. While serving as a hub for interaction among patients, affected parties, and other stakeholders, J-PEP aims to support the involvement of people with lived experience in the health policymaking process by providing training resources and information on involvement opportunities.

Ahead of the full public launch of J-PEP, which is planned for autumn 2024, we will be holding an online information session to explain the purpose of J-PEP and to provide an overview of the site to people with lived experience interested in participating in health policy. We warmly invite all people with lived experience with an interest in health policy to join us.

[Event Overview]

• Date & Time: Friday, September 6, 2024; 18:30-19:30 JST
• Format: Online (Zoom Webinar)
• Language: Japanese only
• Participation Fee: Free
• Host: Health and Global Policy Institute
• Target Audience:
  – Anyone who is interested in learning about the functions of J-PEP
  – Anyone who has concerns about healthcare and wishes to voice those concerns within the healthcare system
  – Anyone who wants to participate effectively in the health policymaking process

[Program]

18:30-18:55 Opening remarks & Platform Overview

HGPI

18:55-19:30 Q&A Session

The English version of the report has been published. (August 19, 2024)

Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) formulated “Lessons and Challenges Drawn from NCDs Responses in Local Governments and Future Visions.”

HGPI held the meeting ”The 1st NCDs Meeting in Kyushu” on December 7th 2023 and “The 2nd Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Hokkaido and Tohoku” on March 15th 2024.
This meeting aimed at enhancing the understanding of NCDs, which require intervention and management across sectors in the community 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 across the community.

HGPI has crystallized the discussion points related to topics that were discussed by participants on these meeting as well as their future prospects.

Discussion point 1: Cardio-renal-metabolic conditions, obesity, and related risk factors can be viewed as interrelated conditions. Rather than advancing regional control measures that target individual conditions, it will be necessary to establish systems using a more integrated approach that spans prevention and treatment to rehabilitation.
Discussion point 2: To improve uptake for routine and specific medical checkups, adopt methods of recommending checkups and providing explanations that reflect the circumstances of the people receiving them.
Discussion point 3: To encourage people whose checkup results require follow-up or more detailed testing to visit health institutions for secondary examinations, it will be important to have conversations that are in line with their lifestyles as well as to eliminate obstacles to medical examinations.
Discussion point 4: To ensure follow-up examinations provided after medical checkups are of high quality, and to enable family doctors to be able to provide referrals to and collaborate with specialists at the right times, it will be necessary to standardize care, to disseminate diagnostic and referral criteria, and to establish networks that facilitate healthcare collaboration.
Discussion point 5: The uneven geographical distribution of specialists results in cases where the windows for early detection are missed, so access to specialists should be improved through healthcare digital transformation (DX).
Discussion point 6: Measures for lifestyle disease control should include measures to reinforce the capacities of prefectural and municipal officials and to promote collaboration among them.
Discussion point 7: In each municipality, public health centers play key roles in cross-cutting collaboration that spans multiple diseases, and their functions should be reinforced.
Discussion point 8: Ensuring smooth collaboration among public health centers, prefectural governments, and municipal governments will be important. Doing so will require establishing systems for collaboration that are centered on public health centers and that involve stakeholders in the region.
Discussion point 9: In addition to measures limited to the public sector, there are examples in which cooperating with the private sector enhanced measures for lifestyle diseases. Cooperation among industry, Government, and academia is important.
Discussion point 10: Expectations are high for a population approach taken through stronger collaboration between community health and occupational health.
Discussion point 11: Obesity control is becoming more important for preventing the exacerbation of other diseases, but obesity measures at the municipal level are generally limited to metabolic syndrome. Obesity awareness must be expanded.
Discussion point 12: A system must be established that allows people to access the right treatment and support that is suited to the policy stage for each disease. Systems for intra-regional collaboration that are designed in a manner that they cut across diseases should also be established.
Discussion point 13: Lifestyle disease control requires collaboration that involves various stakeholders, that encompasses a life course perspective, and that takes aspects related to socioeconomics and welfare into account.

For details, please see the PDF linked below.

Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Chronic Pain Project views chronic pain as a key social issue, which brings notable economic losses and often leads elderly people to long-term care and support. Since FY2021, we have been taking action to encourage measures for better and equitable pain management services.

For timely and appropriate interventions to pain, which is multi-factorial and unique to individuals, primary care has a key role to play. In Japan, the role of primary care physicians is now at a historical turning point. The system surrounding primary care physicians has been the subject of debate for many years, but after the 2023 enactment of the “Act Partially Amending the Health Insurance Act and Other Acts for in Order to Establish a Sustainable Social Security System That Covers All Generations,” comprehensive discussions on the April 2025 introduction of a system related to primary care physicians are accelerating. Given this context, we offer the following recommendations in hopes that the system for making more effective use of primary care physician services that is currently being discussed will make it possible to provide appropriate and timely services for chronic pain of all mechanisms and complexities.

For more information, please find the PDF document at the bottom.

Policy Recommendations on Establishing a System That Makes Full Use of Primary Care Physicians and Can Respond to Complex Chronic Pain

Recommendation 1: Primary care physician services should be strengthened so primary care physicians can stay close to patients’ pain regardless of its mechanism or complexity and serve as the gateway to healthcare while providing appropriate treatment and referrals to specialists.

Recommendation 2: While taking into account the latest findings in pain science and how chronic pain is classified in the International Classification of Diseases, steps should be taken to develop reporting items related to primary care physician services as well as programs that provide primary care physicians with training and recurrent education.

Recommendation 3: A collaborative system that links primary care physicians and a wide range of community resources including pain centers should be established so people can receive a wide range of evidence-based interventions in their communities and, when necessary, have rapid access to multidisciplinary pain care.

Recommendation 4: Ample consideration should be given to the perspectives of pain science experts and healthcare beneficiaries during discussions on the functions of primary care physicians held at Regional Consultation Forums on Ambulatory Care.

Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) will hold a public symposium titled “Establishing Kidney Disease Control Measures with Patient, Citizen, and Community Engagement and Collaboration” on August 28, 2024.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) in its early stages is characterized by a lack of noticeable symptoms, and it is said to be a new national disease, affecting one in seven adults. Efforts by stakeholders in Japan have led to steady progress in CKD management, including raising awareness, improving healthcare infrastructure at the community level, enhancing standards of care, developing human resources, and advancing research and development. However, the increase in the number of dialysis patients (due to both rising incidence and prevalence rates) continues unchecked, with further escalation expected due to Japan’s aging population.

In 2022, HGPI launched the “Kidney Disease Control Promotion Project” and formed a public-private-academic-civic advisory board. HGPI held meetings advocating for the importance of CKD prevention and early intervention, the significance of multidisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration, the need to expand successful local government initiatives, and the promotion of kidney disease strategies based on patient and stakeholder perspectives. In FY2023, HGPI further refined the recommendations from FY2022, conducted interviews about successful local government CKD strategies and challenges, deliberated on solutions to promote CKD initiatives in regions based on these findings, and compiled a policy recommendation document aligned with the patient journey to raise awareness. In addition, lifestyle-related disease meetings were held in Fukuoka City and Sendai City, bringing together administrative officials from local governments. These meetings were held with the aim to exchange views on the need to promote policies across lifestyle-related diseases and to strengthen cooperation among multiple professions and organizations. The resulting findings helped to clarify and summarize issues.

In the third year, FY2024, HGPI will organize a public symposium co-hosted by the Japan Kidney Association. This symposium aims to disseminate the exemplary cases, challenges, solutions discussed, and other outcomes obtained through HGPI’s past activities with society. It will bring together a wide range of stakeholders including governmental bodies (both central and local), legislators, academics, healthcare professionals, and patients/citizens involved in kidney disease management nationwide. The symposium aims to promote collaboration towards the realization of the next steps in patient- and citizen-led CKD strategies.

[Event Overview]

• Date & Time: Wednesday, Aug 28, 2024; from 13:00 to 18:00 (open from 12:45) JST
• Format:Hybrid (In-Person and Online (Zoom Webinars))
• Venue: International House of Japan (5-11-16 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo)
• Language: Japanese
• Participation Fee: Free
• Capacity: Venue: 100 / Online: 500
• Organizer: Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)
• Co-organizer: Japan Kidney Association

*We are still accepting registrations through this page even though the original deadline was Wednesday, August 21st at 12:00.

**After completing registration, a confirmation email will be automatically sent to the registered email address. If you do not receive any confirmation, please contact info@hgpi.org.

[Program] (Titles omitted, no particular order)