NPO Japan Data and Communication Research Institute Seminar on Baby Boomer Health.

TOKYO -- On December 11, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare was invited to a seminar held by NPO Japan Data and Communication Research Institute (Tokyo) at the Japan Amway Auditorium. The object of the seminar was to help support the health of the baby boomer generation, who represent the majority of the Japanese population and are entering into retire.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare spoke on the need for targeted health examinations. The objective is to reduce metabolic syndrome, an affliction increasingly seen in the baby boom generation, by 25% by the year 2015. This will be done by focusing the scope of health care through mandatory targeted health examinations for all subscribers over the age of 40. The next step is to determine who needs information, who needs encouragement, and who needs active support. This would be followed by providing health counseling to those who exceed a set threshold. Penalties including prison sentences may be implemented for the leakage of personal information such as health data gathered by health officials during a patient exam or when providing health counseling.

Dr. Mizushima, Pharm. D. and assistant professor at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, spoke about medical SNS research. He explained that cancer has today become treatable to an extent, but still remains a leading killer. To improve the accuracy of treatment, it is necessary to personalize treatment according to each patient's unique situation using tailor-made drugs and treatments. He discussed a number of foreign examples, including Pharmaco Genomics, a US company that discovered that a drug's efficacy and side-effects differ depending on each individual's genes, and the expansion of the UK's NHS-Net. He also discussed the concept of Strategic Defensive Medical Care, which entails utilizing IT for health care.

Dr. Tanaka, M.D./EngD at Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, spoke about building a Japanese version of the EHR (Electronic Health Record). To improve medical services to Japanese citizens throughout their entire lifetime, he proposed improving the management of health and medical information by saving three types of data - health data, medical data and nursing data - on a common domestic infrastructure to make it accessible to all for use in medical care. He cited the example of Canada's Infoway and the situation following its implementation, and proposed the construction of a similar health data infrastructure.

Dr. Nishino of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine spoke about the effect of diet on metabolics. He discussed the definition of metabolic syndrome, and means that each of us can easily take to prevent cancer caused by metabolic syndrome, including: eating mandarins, a fruit that contains large quantities of beta cryptoxanthin; eating a lot of cabbage 30 minutes before a meal; and avoiding overeating.

NPO commented that companies such as T.T.T Co., Ltd. are leading the way in the storage of individual health and medical data, having begun to provide systems, and in Japan, a new phase has been reached with mandatory targeted medical exams and the implementation of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information. NPO anticipates that a database of personal medical and health data will provide broad-reaching support to Japanese citizens in the coming years and improve treatment. NPO is also considering holding seminars such as this one on a regular basis.