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Review
. 2022 Apr:21:100377.
doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2021.100377. Epub 2022 Jan 23.

Toward a third term of Health Japan 21 - implications from the rise in non-communicable disease burden and highly preventable risk factors

Shuhei Nomura  1   2   3   4 , Haruka Sakamoto  1   2   3 , Cyrus Ghaznavi  2 , Manami Inoue  4
Affiliations
Review

Toward a third term of Health Japan 21 - implications from the rise in non-communicable disease burden and highly preventable risk factors

Shuhei Nomura et al. Lancet Reg Health West Pac. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

In 2000, the Japanese government launched the National Health Promotion Movement known as Health Japan 21 (HJ21), a 13-year national health promotion policy (2000-2012) aimed at preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their underlying risk factors. After the revision in 2013 (2013-2023), the target NCDs and risk factors are being reviewed and a new strategy for the third term of HJ21 is going to be discussed. Using the latest findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, this paper highlights NCDs that continue to increase health losses and preventable metabolic and behavioural risk factors. These NCDs and risk factors are associated with an increased risk of serious illness and death from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The third term of HJ21 will be formulated during the continuing threat of acute health crises like the current COVID-19 pandemic and thus offers an important opportunity to renew public health efforts to halt the growing burden of NCDs in Japan. This article may serve as one of the roadmaps for the formulation of the third term of HJ21.

Keywords: Health Japan 21; Health crisis; Non-communicable diseases; Preventable risk factors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Causes of all-ages DALYs and deaths per 100,000 population in Japan in 2013 and 2019 for both sexes combined. * Data were obtained from the GBD results tool: http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool.
Figure 2
Figure 2
All-ages DALYs attributable to preventable behavioural and metabolic risk factors in 2013 and 2019 for both sexes combined. * Data, except for hepatitis B and C virus infections, were obtained from the GBD results tool: http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool. DALYs: disability-adjusted life years; NCD: non-communicable disease; LDL: low-density lipoprotein. The order of risk factors is sorted by 2019 values.
Figure 3
Figure 3
All-ages number of deaths attributable to preventable behavioural and metabolic risk factors in 2013 and 2019 for both sexes combined. * Data, except for hepatitis B and C virus infections, Helicobacter pylori infection, HPV infection, and HTLV-1 infection, were obtained from the GBD results tool: http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool. NCD: non-communicable disease; LDL: low-density lipoprotein; HPV: human papillomavirus; HTLV-1: human T-cell leukemia virus type 1. The order of risk factors is sorted by 2019 values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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