Consultation on long-term psychosocial impact of disaster in WHO Center for
Health Development （2017/2/16）
Topics: Psychological/mental health needs and interventions – Lessons from Japan
Venue: WHO Center for Health Development (Kobe, Japan)

On Feb. 16, 2017, WHO Center for Health Development invited Prof. Shinichi Egawa of IRIDeS,
Tohoku University as a discussant in the Consultation on long-term psychosocial impact of disaster.
This consultation meeting consists of multidisciplinary experts in disaster medicine to elucidate thepsychosocial impacts of disaster on affected people and responders, to implement the effectiveintervention and preparedness for current and future disasters in the world.
Experts included Prof. Egawa, Associate Prof. Matsumoto from Graduate School of Medicine,
Associate Prof. Aida from Graduate School of Dentistry, Tohoku University (Prof. Tomita was absent
due to giving a presentation at Japan-NIH joint symposium) and representatives from Hyogo
Institute for Traumatic Stress, National Institute of Public Health, National Center of Neurology andPsychiatry, Nagasaki University, Okayama Psychiatric Medical Center, DMAT Office, University ofEnvironmental and Occupational Health, Fukushima Medical University, Hyogo PrefecturalUniversity, Soma Central Hospital, Tsukuba University, Disaster Psychiatry Assistance Team(DPAT) Office and Kumamoto Mental Health and Welfare Center. Observers were from Ministry ofHealth, Labour and Welfare, International Recovery Platform, Hyogo Earthquake Memorial 21stCentury Research Institute and OCHA.
Dr. Kato from Hyogo Institute for Traumatic Stress summarized as Key Note the initiative mental
health response in 1991 Mt. Unzen volcanic eruption and 1993 Hokkaido Earthquake, theremarkable advancement of traumatic stress care after 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, themental health responses in 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake. These experiences prompted theimportance of mental health response after disaster subsequently to the rapid response after 2011
Great East Japan Earthquake. He shared the current situation and gaps of centers for traumaticstress in the affected prefectures. DPAT Office shared the establishment and activities of DPAT andthe challenging issues. The participating experts actively discussed the challenges in bridging
across acute phase and long-term phase of mental health response after disaster.
The latter half of the consultation meeting was group discussion to identify research andknowledge gaps and priorities about long-term psychological/mental health care/support andsystem, bridging across acute phase and longer-term activities. Each group summarized theproduct and presented in the plenary discussion to elucidate the required research and draft
roadmap of research agenda. The five main categories of required research was as follows:a. Assessment of Mental Healthb. Bridging between physical and psychosocial healthc. Psychosocial assistance of responders
d. Phase dependent traumatic stress caree. Research and outreaching ethics
We will further promote this collaborative research initiative to establish better psychosocial
response from acute to long-term phases after disaster. Since psychosocial impact of disasterstrongly depend on the culture of affected people, the whole discussion and research process will
be conducted in Japanese, but the output will be propagated to the world through WHO.
Reported by Shinichi Egawa (Disaster Medical Science Division)(continues on the next page)Multidisciplinary members of the consultation meetingGroup discussion on the research agenda

Presentation of the product