認知症サミット
日本後継イベント

認知症サミット日本後継イベント2日目閉会式での厚生労働大臣挨拶

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and first of all, I’d like to thank all of you to attend this great legacy meeting in Tokyo.

As the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, I would like to make some remarks upon closing of the Global Dementia Legacy Event Japan.

To begin with, please allow me to thank all of you for your vigorous contributions and productive discussions over the past two days. We started with the subspecialty meetings yesterday, and today we examined topics including, “Timely and Appropriate Prevention and Care,” “Scientific Approaches,” “Dementia Friendly Communities and ICT,” and “Future Initiatives.” It is my strong hope that these discussions will contribute to the progress of theories and practices of dementia care and prevention in the future.

This morning, our Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe asked me to formulate a new policy program for dementia. Kurokawa-sensei literarily said it National Strategy for fight against dementia.

According to his remarks and the discussions that have been taken place over the past two days, I will launch a new Dementia Action Plan, replacing the current Five-year Plan, in order for promoting more comprehensive policy measures for dementia. As the fastest aging country, Japan should serve as a model for dementia measures and I would like to outline the three foundational pillars of this new plan.

First, we will implement an Integrated Community Care System for Dementia by year 2025, the year baby boomers turn 75 years old and older. Early diagnosis and intervention is the key to this system. Healthcare services and long-term care services should be coordinated systematically and should be provided seamlessly as the stages of dementia progress. Persons with dementia can also benefit from an integrated system. When physical complications and BPSD - such as delusions, depression, and wandering - are observed, another setting of care coordination should be in place so that they can continue living in the community after hospital or institutional care. I will also look into increasing some of the numerical targets from the levels in the current plan.

Second, we will formulate a comprehensive plan to foster dementia-friendly communities through cross-ministerial collaboration that Kurokawa-sensei also touched upon. Public awareness, supportive living environments, support for community living, employment assistance, social life support, safety, ICT, support for carers, promotion of research and development, and international collaboration should be included.

Third, we will prioritize the standpoint of persons with dementia and their families when creating measures. Current measures might have tended to focus on the views of those who support them. At this Legacy Event, persons with dementia have delivered their own messages using their own words all over the globe. This could enhance social awareness toward dementia, as well as could be the hope for persons with dementia. I will accelerate policy measures for dementia that realize thoughts and viewpoints that only persons with dementia and their families can understand.

Furthermore, it is important to share good practices about dementia care and prevention around the globe. Japan, as a pioneer of the “Dementia Supporters” training program, will introduce this program to increase awareness of this issue all over the world.

The US Government will host the next Global Dementia Legacy Event next February focusing on Alzheimer’s Disease Research. It is my hope that the event will achieve great success.

I hereby, with deep gratitude to all who helped and led this great event to a big step forward towards a brighter future and also brought this great event a success, declare the closing of the Global Dementia Legacy Event Japan. And I’m looking forward to seeing all the participants here in this hall somewhere on the globe sometime not so distant future. Thank you very much.