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

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.