Health Policy Summit 2023
Reconsidering Health Systems on a Planetary Scale

 

The history of the Health Policy Summit

Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) has hosted Health Policy Summit as its flagship event almost every year since 2006. These events have brought together decision-makers and top leaders in health policy representing multi-stakeholders to discuss the key issues of each year. Under the Chatham House Rule of not disclosing speakers’ names in reference materials and other publications, each Health Policy Summit has generated active discussions in line with our vision of “Healthy Debate.” We have leveraged our unique position as a non-profit, non-partisan, independent think-tank to ensure this event serves as a forum for Diet members of all parties and high-ranking administrative officials to freely exchange opinions with open minds. We have held opinion exchanges on many key issues including integrated tax and social security system reforms, Regional Medical Care Visions, chronic disease control, healthcare digitalization, and the roles of politics and science in efforts to combat COVID-19. Many global leaders have also participated in past Health Policy Summits, allowing these events to provide opportunities for us to refer to good examples from other countries in addition to those from Japan. In Japan, platforms for multi-stakeholder discussions that surpass individual positions are rare in the field of health policy, and Health Policy Summit is widely recognized among stakeholders as an invaluable legacy event.

 

Health Policy Summit 2023: Reconsidering Health Systems on a Planetary Scale

Examining public finance in Japan, we see that the general account budget for FY2021 was 102.658 trillion yen. That year, social security expenditures amounted to 35.8608 trillion yen or about 35% of the general account budget. Japan also experienced serious socioeconomic effects from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and how we should structure our health- and long-term care insurance systems has been a daily topic in the media. In the eyes of the public, issues related to social security and health policy have become primary concerns.

 

At the same time, among many of the issues facing Japan, only a few can be addressed by Japan alone. COVID-19 and other infectious diseases continue to be worldwide threats that require frameworks for international cooperation to overcome. In addition to COVID-19, Japan has made a number of global contributions in the field of infectious diseases for AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases. However, to ensure health systems can obtain satisfactory results in the presence of financial limitations, expectations are high for progress in discussions on how to best assess the effects of global contributions in the field of infectious diseases on a planetary level, as well as how to best structure public-private partnerships in that area. International cooperative frameworks for disease control often include objectives for each participating country to achieve within its own borders, so in addition to providing funding, countries that make international commitments are also obligated to make progress in their domestic policies. Regarding efforts to maintain and improve the health of the public in real terms, evidence which suggests that preserving the Earth’s environment will be essential for ensuring the health of humanity is also being gathered. The concept of planetary health has become well-established and discussions in line with that concept are now advancing. In this era of climate change, we must achieve steady progress in the implementation of domestic infectious disease control measures. Doing this requires us to adopt a global perspective to reconsider COVID-19 and all other infectious disease countermeasures as a part of health systems on a planetary scale (Session 1).

There are also striking changes occurring in the international environment with regards to efforts to generate and assess innovations for overcoming disorders and infectious diseases. As we saw during the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, mechanisms based on global public-private partnerships are resulting in breakthrough innovations in pharmaceuticals and diagnostic technologies. The whole world is functioning as a market where decisions regarding prices and distribution cannot be made unilaterally by single countries. Furthermore, geopolitical threats mean securing basic antimicrobials and other basic pharmaceuticals is now becoming an economic and health security issue. Expectations are high for the creation of systems providing stable supplies of these medicines and for steps to rapidly introduce novel innovations that have been deemed safe. Steps must also be taken to maintain healthcare systems overall, starting with Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC), as well as to ensure they are sustainable. Despite anticipation for discussions on pharmaceutical pricing in the national health care system, as well as on enhancing overall healthcare productivity and quality to achieve these objectives, consensus among multi-stakeholders has been hard to build. Expectations are high for opportunities to hold free and open-minded discussions on these topics (Session 2).

As issues that are characteristic of the Anthropocene era come into clear view, Health Policy Summit 2023 will be titled, “Reconsidering Health Systems on a Planetary Scale” and deepen discussion under two themes: Session 1, or “Reconsidering Infectious Disease Control on a Planetary Scale;” and Session2, or “Reconsidering Health Systems as Multi-Stakeholders.” Each session will consist of pitch talks from industry, Government, academia, and civil society followed by roundtable discussions with participants.

Event overview (subject to change)

■Date and time: Saturday, February 18, 2023; from 13:30 to 17:30 (with lunch networking from 11:30 to 13:00)

■Venue: Imperial Hotel Tokyo (Peacock Room)

■Languages: Japanese and English (with simultaneous interpretation)

■Host by: Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)

■Participants: Policy makers; representatives of related ministries and agencies, academia, healthcare providers, and companies; patients and other parties most affected; representatives of the media, etc. 

■Format: In-person dialogue (Each session will feature roundtable discussions with approx. 15-30 participants)

■Program:

11:30-13:00　Lunch networking

13:00-13:30　Recess

13:30-13:40　Opening remarks

13:45-13:55　Explanatory introduction         Ryoji Noritake (CEO, Board Member, HGPI)

14:00-15:30　Session 1: “Reconsidering Infectious Disease Control on a Planetary Scale”

15:30-15:40　Recess

15:40-17:10　Session 2: “Reconsidering Health Systems as Multi-Stakeholders”

17:15-17:30　Closing remarks                         Kiyoshi Kurokawa (Chairman, HGPI)