On January 17, 2022, Health and Global Policy Institute released poll data on public opinion about priorities for policies related to children’s health.
The new poll, conducted in October over the internet, asked a series of policy-related questions to a group of 1,000 people, selected without exclusion from a monitor panel of a research firm to be representative of the total population of Japan in terms of age, sex, and region.
 
The poll asked the public to list the top three issues they hope the new Children and Family Agency will prioritize. The most popular issues were topics that impact or relate to mental health, including bullying countermeasures (48.6%), child abuse prevention (34.7%), Support for children who don’t go to school/hikikomori (children who don’t leave their homes; 24.9%) and Mental health promotion(20.8%).

Respondents were also asked about their experience with learning about mental health as children. Only 25.9% of those surveyed said that they had received lessons on mental health in school. Among those who did not learn about mental health, over 60% said that they wish they had. Approximately 40% of those who said that they do not feel there is any need to learn about mental health in school also stated that they didn’t know what the term “kokoro no kenko” (mental health / lit. health of the heart) meant, suggesting a need to increase understanding and literacy about this topic.

Overall, the results suggest the popularity of stronger support for the mental health of children as a Government priority.
HGPI has been promoting the advancement of policy around children’s health – and children’s mental health – since 2020. For more information on this project and recent events on it organized by HGPI, please see here.