The Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Dementia Policy Project formulated policy recommendations in dementia titled, “The Future of Dementia Policy 2022: Deepening Dementia Policies Centered on People Living with Dementia and their Families to Lead Global Society.” For details, please view the PDF provided bottom.

■Background of these recommendations

In Japan, devoted efforts from people involved in the field of dementia have resulted in steady progress for domestic dementia policy. Since the Long-Term Care Insurance System was established in 2000, there has been particular emphasis placed on upholding the dignity of people living with dementia and their families, and we have seen progress in multi-stakeholder cooperation encompassing healthcare and long-term care under the concept of the Integrated Community Care System. Past domestic dementia policies include the Five-Year Plan for the Promotion of Dementia Measures (the Orange Plan), which was enacted in 2012; the Comprehensive Strategy to Accelerate Dementia Measures (the New Orange Plan), which came into effect in 2015; and the National Framework for Promotion of Dementia Policies, Japan’s first national strategy for dementia, which was introduced in 2019. Average life expectancies in each country are growing, making measures for dementia an urgent issue in the global community. The G8 Dementia Summit, which was held in London in December 2013, marked a major step forward in dementia policy for the international community. The World Dementia Council (WDC) was established as a result of that summit, and each country has been working to expand policies for dementia according to its Declaration and Communique. Then, in 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) released “Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025,” which called on each country to formulate and advance dementia policies. While the past decade has seen much growth in momentum for dementia policies in the global community, these efforts have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We must now acknowledge the need to redouble our efforts. It will soon be a decade since the G8 Dementia Summit, and the 2023 G7 Summit will be held in Japan. Given this opportunity, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) has developed the following policy recommendations based on knowledge gained over many years of Dementia Policy Project activities to indicate the direction for Japan to take to further strengthen dementia policy in the global community.

■Policy recommendations

Perspective 1: The Social Environment

• Transition from “Understanding, watching over, and providing support” to “Coexisting and co-creating with people living with dementia”
• Go beyond the healthcare, long-term care, and welfare sectors to co-create a dementia-friendly society with people living with or affected by dementia and retailers, public transport organizations, and other companies
• Provide support to energize activities from civil society starting with patient advocate organizations and train patient advocate leaders at the community level

Perspective 2: Care

• Expand evidence-based risk reduction initiatives for dementia risk factors
• Promote practices for early detection and diagnosis that are based on the needs of people with dementia
• Consider evaluation indicators for care quality and degree of specialty and the ideal evaluation system so the value and importance of long-term dementia caregivers and other forms of care work is communicated throughout society

Perspective 3: Research

• Secure continuous funding and drive medium- to long-term development in domestic dementia research
• Utilize real-world data (RWD) and promote global joint studies and data-sharing
• Construct an R&D platform that facilitates citizen participation
• Establish evaluation criteria that encompass user perspectives for products and services that support the daily lives of people with dementia to create a market for dementia-friendly products and services

Perspective 4: Political leadership

• Make dementia a central agenda at the 2023 G7 Summit in Japan
• Enact the Basic Act for Dementia as soon as possible
• Promote public understanding toward reforms that distribute burdens to stabilize social security finances
• Bolster community development through regulations for dementia from local governments