On June 9, 2026, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) released a policy recommendation report entitled “Policy Recommendations for Migraine Care: Promoting the Diffusion of Innovation for People Living with Migraine.”

<Key Points>

• Migraine affects approximately 8.4 million people aged 15 years and older in Japan, and nearly 10 million people when children are included. Despite its prevalence, migraine is often dismissed as “just a headache,” leaving many patients without access to appropriate specialist care.
• Migraine disproportionately affects women, with a prevalence approximately 3.6 times higher than that among men. It is particularly common among individuals in their 30s and 40s, many of whom balance work, childcare, and caregiving responsibilities. As such, migraine is closely linked to broader policy agendas, including women’s empowerment, labor productivity, and declining birth rates.
• The interaction of “rational choices” made by patients, healthcare professionals, and the healthcare system has created a deeply entrenched structure of clinical inertia that cannot be overcome through awareness-raising efforts alone.
• The report presents eight integrated and cross-sectoral policy recommendations spanning education, reimbursement systems, legal frameworks, and industrial policy.

Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder affecting an estimated 1.1 to 1.2 billion people worldwide. Internationally, addressing the “treatment gap” in migraine care has become a recognized policy priority. In Japan, however, progress has been hindered by structural challenges, including a shortage of headache specialists, inadequate diagnostic and referral pathways within primary care, insufficient headache education in schools and workplaces, and the absence of a dedicated governmental body responsible for migraine policy.

This report was developed through the integration of findings from expert interviews with three headache specialists, ethnographic research involving physicians and patients, and an international literature review. These investigations revealed a self-reinforcing cycle of clinical inertia: patients resign themselves to living with pain, non-specialist physicians provide only the care patients explicitly request, and the healthcare system lacks incentives to correct this stagnation. Breaking this cycle requires comprehensive policy interventions that go beyond public awareness campaigns and incorporate the principles of patient engagement and patient-centered care.

The report puts forward the following eight policy recommendations:

1. Promote public awareness and improve societal understanding of migraine.
2. Institutionalize migraine and headache education within school curricula.
3. Establish systematic referral pathways from primary care to headache specialists.
4. Reform reimbursement systems to appropriately recognize and reward specialized headache care.
5. Strengthen the integration of migraine initiatives into workplace health and productivity management programs among employers and health insurers.
6. Shift toward migraine policymaking grounded in patient and public involvement.
7. Improve access to innovative therapies and reduce financial barriers to treatment.
8. Establish a dedicated governmental framework and legal basis for advancing migraine policy.

These recommendations are designed as a mutually reinforcing policy package. Their greatest impact will be achieved through coordinated action among schools, workplaces, healthcare providers, and government agencies. Affecting approximately 8.4 million patients as well as their families, workplaces, and educational environments, migraine is truly a “disease of everyday life.” We hope this report will help all stakeholders involved in migraine care develop a shared understanding of the challenges and support concrete action toward meaningful change.

This report was independently developed and published by HGPI based on expert interviews and research findings. It does not represent the views of any advisors, contributors, affiliated organizations, or institutions associated with those individuals.

The English version of this report will be available in due course.