Towards Sustainable Primary Health Care―Leaving No One Behind
The 15th Annual Conference of Japan Primary Care Association
President Dr. Machiko Inoue
Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
We are pleased to announce that the 15th Annual Conference of the Japanese Primary Care Association will be held at Act City Hamamatsu in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, from Friday, June 7 to Sunday, June 9, 2024. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our members for this valuable opportunity to hold the conference in Shizuoka Prefecture. The theme of this year's conference is "Towards Sustainable Primary Health Care―Leaving No One Behind.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in 2015, set out 17 specific goals to be achieved by 2030, based on the principle of "leaving no one behind.” The goals cover a wide range of areas from social, economic, and environmental areas, and several of them are closely related to healthcare. For example, Goal 3, "Health and well-being for all," is carried forward in the Astana Declaration (2018), which, as a health care system, aims to ensure that quality primary health care is provided to all.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound global impact, threatening not only Goal 3 but also other goals such as poverty, the economy, and gender equity. The importance of primary care was reaffirmed, and at the same time many health professionals were forced to reflect on the relationship between medicine and society, and on sustainable health systems and working practices. In addition, wars, conflicts, disasters, and climate change have become pressing issues that threaten people's health and well-being.
The Japan Primary Care Association has addressed issues such as the primary care delivery system in a society with a declining population, the family medicine specialist system of global standard, addressing the social determinants of health, contributing to the community-based comprehensive care system through multi-professional collaboration, disaster preparedness, and promoting diversity in the primary care workforce.
In light of this, we are planning this year's conference to discuss how to build "sustainable primary health care" for the future of health care. Dr. Anna Stavdal, President of WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors), will give a special lecture on how primary care teams should work towards sustainable primary care from a global perspective.
Hamamatsu is easily accessible by Shinkansen bullet train, and the venue, Act City Hamamatsu, is a 5-minute walk from the station. Known as the "City of Success" associated with Tokugawa Ieyasu, Ieyasu's spirit of building a peaceful 260-year reign has been passed down as the "Yaramaika (Go-for-it!) Spirit" of boldly challenging anything and everything.
By combining the efforts of our members in Shizuoka Prefecture, we plan to provide hospitality that is unique to Shizuoka. We hope that you will enjoy not only the academic exchange, but also the experience of Hamamatsu, the "City of Music," with piano and jazz performances.
We sincerely hope that the lively discussions and exchanges at the conference will lead to new learning, discoveries, and connections, and contribute to the further development of this academic field and the improvement of people's health and well-being. We look forward to your participation.