Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) published a report of the project entitled “International comparison of dementia policies, research study on information dissemination.” This project was selected as an “FY2023 Elderly Healthcare Promotion Project” (Elderly Healthcare Project Promotion Subsidy).
For more information, please refer to the PDF.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated April 24 to April 30, 2024, as World Immunization Week. In conjunction with World Immunization Week, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) is hosting this seminar to reflect on infectious disease control strategies, as well as the value of vaccination and immunization.
The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) not only had a profound impact worldwide but also prompted a renewed recognition of the importance of prevention, preparedness, and response to infectious diseases in modern society, which had been focused on addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
Building on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 response, The Cabinet Agency for Infectious Disease Crisis Management(CAICM) was established in the Cabinet Office in September 2023. The “National Action Plan for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases,” formulated in 2013 and partially revised in 2017, is also undergoing a re-revision, targeted for completion in summer 2024. Additionally, the integration of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, and the consequent establishment of the “Institute for Health Security”, are scheduled for 2025, accelerating the strengthening of Japan’s domestic system for infectious disease crisis management.
As discussions on nationwide preparedness for infectious diseases gain momentum, vaccination and immunization remain the fundamental pillars of infectious disease control strategies. Vaccination has been hailed as “the greatest invention in medical history,” and there are many diseases that can be prevented through vaccination and immunization. In addition to COVID-19, measles and pneumococcal disease, for which the transitional measures will end at the end of fiscal year 2023, are currently being addressed in the domestic media as of March 2024.
Furthermore, the benefits of vaccination and immunization are not limited to infancy and childhood but extend into adulthood and old age, making a life-course approach to vaccination and immunization desirable throughout one’s lifetime. However, several diverse challenges exist in promoting vaccination and immunization, including communication with civil society, awareness among healthcare professionals, varying positions of national and local governments, the roles and limitations of advisory councils, and balancing public subsidies.
In this HGPI seminar, we aim to explore the necessary measures for future infectious disease control strategies, centering on vaccination and immunization. We are honored to have Ms. Narumi Hori, a leading figure in infectious disease control discussions, as our speaker. In addition to the roles of healthcare professionals as key players in local vaccination and public health policies, we will also discuss the need for a life-course approach that is inclusive of socially vulnerable and high-risk populations. Through this seminar, we hope to deepen our collective understanding of infectious disease control strategies.
[Event Overview]
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- Speaker: Narumi Hori (Registered Nurse / Infection Control Consultant)
- Date & Time: April 26, 2024 (Friday) 13:00-14:30 JST
- Format: In-person (No online streaming)
- Venue: Global Business Hub Tokyo >>Access
(Grand Cube 3F, Otemachi Financial City, 1-9-2, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN 100-0004) - Language: Japanese (No simultaneous interpretation)
- Participation Fee: Free
- Capacity: 50 people (first-come, first-served)
*Application deadline: April 21 (Sunday) 23:59 JST
*An automatic confirmation email will be sent to your registered email address upon completion of registration. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please email info@hgpi.org.
**To optimize event operations and accommodate as many participants as possible, we kindly ask that you carefully consider your schedule and refrain from canceling after the result announcement.
■Profile
Narumi Hori (Registered Nurse / Infection Control Consultant / President, Infection Control Lab LLC / Adjunct lecturer, Department of Infectious Diseases, Division of Comprehensive Patient Care, Medical and Dental Sciences, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University / Research Fellow, Center for Surveillance, Immunization and Epidemiologic Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases)
Graduated from Kanagawa University’s Faculty of Law and Tokyo Women’s Medical University School of Nursing. Withdrawn from the doctoral program at Tokyo Gakugei University Graduate School (Master’s in Education). Completed the National Institute of Public Health (Health Crisis Management, Master of Public Health). After working in infectious disease departments at private and public hospitals, she completed the Field Epidemiology Training Program (9th term) at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases from 2007-2009, served as an assistant professor (Nursing Education/Infectious Disease Nursing) at St. Luke’s International University from 2009-2012, and has been working at the International Clinical Research Center of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine since 2013 (Infectious Disease Control Specialist). In April 2015, she concurrently took on the role of Medical Coordinator at the International Medical Care Department. She resigned from the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in July 2018. In August 2018, she became a freelance consultant (Infectious Disease Control/Global Measures for Communities and Organizations).
Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) ’s Healthcare DX Project held two online Expert Panel meetings, the first on October 26 and the second on November 21, 2023.
The need to build data infrastructure and promote healthcare DX has become a global discussion. In Japan, the spread of COVID-19 has triggered a national concern about delays in the construction of data infrastructure that can be operated in an integrated manner, including appropriate measures against chronic diseases both during normal times, and in the promotion of healthcare DX. Based on the proposal of “Healthcare DX Reiwa Vision 2030”, the “Headquarters for Medical Digital Transformation (DX) Promotion” was established in October 2022, headed by Prime Minister Kishida. Currently, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare; Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Digital Agency and other related ministries are collaborating to establish a nationwide platform for sharing health information.
Healthcare DX is not just a goal, but a means to build a healthcare system that can be trusted by citizens and patients alike. In order to realize this aim, HGPI is seeking the ideal system that meets the expectations of citizens and patients, and considering how to realize this ideal through healthcare DX.
HGPI discusses the promotion of healthcare DX from a global perspective, with industry, government, academia, and the private sector working in unison to establish a trusted and sustainable healthcare system. This process also proposes future steps to be taken regarding the role of healthcare DX and implementation of future strategies.
In the HGPI Special Seminar “Reinforcing Public Trust in the Health System through Healthcare DX,” discussion highlighted the unclear benefits of healthcare DX for citizens and patients alongside concerns about data utilization. During this recent round of Expert Panel meetings, the vision and goals to be achieved in a successful healthcare DX policy, issues and barriers faced to date, and concrete measures to overcome these issues from the following perspectives were discussed:
- Organization of data infrastructure building for the promotion of healthcare DX
- Challenges and expectations for secondary use of data
- Fundamentals of healthcare DX from the perspective of citizens and patients
- Appropriate measures to be taken and their order of priority
[VISION]
“We aim for a healthcare DX where the increasing use of personal data in society will benefit individuals and the population as a whole.”
In healthcare DX, the digitization of society is the foundation, and the greatest strength is that all information can be converted into electronic data and shared via the cloud. In order to utilise these strengths in the healthcare sector, it is first necessary to develop an environment for the collection of citizen and patient health and medical data. However, in order to promote the accumulation of data on the basis of sharing, it is assumed that safety is guaranteed because public cooperation will not be forthcoming unless there is a benefit in terms of a perceived improvement in convenience in the individual’s lived experience. In addition to public benefits as currently articulated, it is also important to articulate initiatives that enable individuals to directly experience benefits in their own healthcare behavior, and it is desirable to aim for a healthcare DX that benefits both the individual and the public.
[THREE GOALS FOR ACHIEVING THE VISION]
Goal 1: Facilitate citizens’ proactive self-determination on health issues
The consolidation of personal health and medical data through healthcare DX will enable citizens and patients to check their own health and medical data at anytime, anywhere. The use of AI technology will enable not only the proactive selection of solutions to one’s own health challenges, but also the visualization and selection of a personalized patient journey.
Goal 2: Establish a sustainable healthcare system in which every citizen and patient can enjoy the benefits and be satisfied
In a healthcare system made possible by healthcare DX, services that are acceptable to a greater number of citizens are concretely presented and multifaceted efforts are made to realize them.
Goal 3: Realization of a data utilization system that promotes innovation and ensures appropriate responses to issues such as discrimination
It is important to further innovation through the use of health and medical data in combination with the improvement of the world through the use of data and appropriate responses to issues that may arise from the release of such data (e.g. unfair discrimination and other uses which are detrimental to the person concerned).
Based on the Expert Panel discussions, the panelists addressed the goal of achieving the vision of “healthcare DX that benefits individuals and the nation as a whole through increased use of personal data in society”. The panelists also covered the changes that healthcare DX will enable in people’s lives, and the points that the government, legislature, media, private companies, academia, the medical community, and citizens/patients should address.
[Expert Panel Members] (titles omitted; in no particular order)
Makoto Aoki (Fellow, Health and Global Policy Institute)
Jun Sasaki (Chief Executive Officer and Director at Yushoukai Medical Corporation)
Naomi Sakurai (CEO, Cancer Solutions)
Mamoru Ichikawa (President, General Incorporated Association of Medical Journalism, Japan)
Takafumi Ochiai (Head of Policy Research Institution, Senior Partner (Affiliated with the Daini Tokyo Bar Association), Atsumi & Sakai)
Yoichiro Itakura (Lawyer, Hikari Sogoh Law Offices)
Tomohiro Kuroda (CIO, University Hospital, Director, Center of Digital Transformation of Healthcare/ Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, Graduate School of Informatics Kyoto University)
[Department of Healthcare DX Policy research Members] (titles omitted; in no particular order)
Yusuke Tsugawa (Board Member, HGPI; Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA; Associate Professor, Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health, UCLA)
Takanori Fujita (Research Fellow, HGPI; Project Associate Professor, School of Health Innovation, Kanagawa University of Human Services; Project Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University)
The Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Dementia Policy Project formulated policy recommendations in dementia titled, “Dementia Prevention Initiatives for Achieving a Dementia-Friendly and Inclusive Society.”
For details, please view the PDF provided bottom.
■ Background of these recommendations
The Dementia Basic Act for an Inclusive Society (or, the Dementia Basic Act) came into effect on January 1, 2024 and included a section entitled “Prevention of Dementia, etc.” in Article 21. Stating that the Act will “enable willing participants to engage in appropriate and scientifically sound activities for dementia and mild cognitive impairment,” Article 21 envisions people who can make autonomous decisions. To mark the enactment of the Dementia Basic Act, HGPI arranged opportunities to discuss and examine the nature of dementia prevention. In December 2023, we held multi-stakeholder discussions at a public symposium titled, “Dementia Risk Reduction: How Society Should Face the Individualization of Risk.” Working independently, we then formulated policy recommendations based on those discussions and on other opinion exchanges with experts and representatives of civil society.
■ Policy recommendations
Recommendation 1: Envision a broader meaning for “policy beneficiaries” than the people covered by general dementia policies and endeavor to provide information.
Recommendation 2: Make preparations in the social environment utilizing the voices and experiences of people living with dementia, their families, and related parties.
Recommendation 3: Promote industry-government-academia collaboration from the development stage to ensure quality.
Recommendation 4: Encourage private sector participation by implementing frameworks for evaluation and payment that elevate quality.
Recommendation 5: Adopt practices for risk reduction that lead to early detection, diagnosis, and intervention and coordinate with measures for other chronic diseases.
