Collaborating Centres
ANNUAL REPORT
Folder eCC_00016652 is in stage Annual_Report_Review
Name of the University, Hospital, Research Institute, Academy or MinistryGunma University
Name of the Division, Department, Unit, Section or Area
Centre for Research and Training on Interprofessional Education
Reference Number

JPN-89City

Maebashi-City

Title

WHO Collaborating Centre for research and training on Interprofessional Education

Report Year

07-2020 to 07-2021

1. Annual report on the agreed workplan
Describe progress made on the agreed workplan. For each activity, detail (1) the actions taken, (2) the
outputs delivered, as well as (3) any difficulties that may have been encountered. Three responses are
expected. [maximum 200 words per activity]. Indicate, if an activity has been completed previously,
has not yet started or has been placed on hold.
Activity 1
Title: Better understanding and dissemination of health professions education reforms, including IPE
introduction, in the WPR countries
Description: Toward the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the program addresses theneed to substantially improve quality and quantity of health workforce (HWF) training. Universal Health
Coverage (UHC) is one of the strongest tools for SDGs, especially Goal 3. Although well-trained HWF isessential to provide quality health service, the severe shortage of HWF is still a big issue hindering theachievement of SDGs. Efforts to scale up health professional education must be increased in terms of quantityand quality. Recently, the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth has
strengthened investment in the high-quality HWF production. Scaling up transformative, high-quality education
is included in the recommendations to maximize future returns on investments. Interprofessional education(IPE) is one of 11 recommendations demonstrated in WHO Guideline 2013, Transforming and scaling up
health professionals’ education and training. Recently several WPR counties have embarked on initiatives toimprove health professional education with WHO support. To adopt transformative strategies in the scale-upof health worker education, a coordinated approach is needed to encourage IPE and collaborative practice in
the Western Pacific Region (WPR).
There are several organizations that promote IPE/CP nationally or internationally. Japan Interprofessional
Working and Education Network (JIPWEN) is one of the globally-leading networks and it has extensive
experiences of organizing and attending the international HWF-related forums. These academic organizations
keep a flexible inter-federation network and have international meetings on a regular basis, such as the All
Together Better Health (ATBH) biennial conference. There are also international conferences related to HWF
issues such as the Global Forum on HRH, Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) and the Asia Pacific
Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health (AAAH) conference. These conferences facilitate knowledge
sharing, experience exchange, and the establishment of evidence-based IPE and CP in response to theneeds of developed-countries.
For better understanding of IPE, the Centre in consultation with WHO will organize or participate insymposiums or workshops focusing on health professions education reforms in the WPR countries. The
Centre will also participate and present at international conferences related to IPE at the global level toadvocate and share the experiences from the Region.

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ANNUAL REPORT
Status: completed(1) Actions taken
1. A faculty member of the Centre attended the international symposium webinar as an invited speaker hosted
by Universitas Islam Sultan Agung Semarang Indonesia on 13 December 2020.
2. A faculty member of the Centre attended the virtual workshop on Interprofessional Education, as a keynote
speaker hosted by Eulji University in Korea, on 14 January 2021.
3. The two faculty members of the Centre attended the PMAC2021 held in Bangkok, Thailand online, from 29
January 2021 to 3 February 2021.
4. The Centre organized an online international symposium with speakers from the WHO/WPRO in terms of
the update information on COVID-19 in the WPRO region and WHO’s response on 20 February 2021.
5. A faculty member of the Centre attended the IPE webinar “Cultivating Collaboration, Fostering
Interprofessionalism in Healthcare: A Webinar on Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice”, as a
keynote speaker hosted by University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines on 8 May 2021.
(2) Outputs delivered
1. The Centre in collaboration with WHO CCs promoted IPE by organizing an international symposium.
2. A faculty member of the Centre gave two presentations entitled “Quality of Health Professional Education:
IPE” and “Implementation of IPE for Undergraduate Students at Gunma University” at the international
symposium webinar hosted by Universitas Islam Sultan Agung Semarang Indonesia on 13 December 2020.
3. A faculty member of the Centre gave a presentation entitled “Activities of Gunma University as WHO
Collaborating Centre and Implementation of Interprofessional Education at Gunma University School of
Medicine” at the virtual workshop on Interprofessional Education hosted by Eulji University in Korea on 14
January 2021.
4. A faculty member of the Centre gave a presentation entitled “Interprofessional Education during the
COVID-19 pandemic” at the IPE Webinar hosted by University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines on 8 May
2021.
(3) Difficulty
None
Activity 2
Title: Monitoring and evaluation of strategic partnership for IPE development in the Region
Description: WHO supports the establishment of Education Development Center (EDC) in the WPR. The
Centre visited EDC in the University of Health Sciences (UHS) in Lao PDR and it started to collaborate with
the EDC for their educational development under the coordination of WHO. To implement the collaboration, afour-phase action plan was developed in 2014. The four-year activities consisted of sharing the key conceptsof IPE, designing programmes, organizing the interprofessional programme committee and implementing andevaluating the programme each year. Through this experience, the Centre recognized the importance of astrategic instead of sporadic approach for several years to disseminate IPE. The framework for strategic
partnership is shown in Twinning Partnerships for Improvement: Recovery Partnership Preparation Package
issued by WHO in 2016. Although this strategic approach can be a model for the IPE introduction in different
educational settings, monitoring and evaluation will be needed as a health system attribute, accountability for
UHC, stated in Universal Health Coverage: Moving Towards Better Health, WHO/WPRO 2015. In terms ofevidence generation, the Centre, with technical advise from WHO, will evaluate the effectiveness of theircurrent IPE initiative implemented in Lao People Democratic Republic and use the lessons to inform design offuture initiatives.
The ownership of the report and/or publications will be vested in the WHO Collaborating Centre.

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Status: completed(1) Actions taken
In order to accelerate the dissemination of Interprofessional Education in the WPR and expand the lessons
from the collaboration with the Education Development Center in Lao PDR, the Center started the newcollaboration with Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) in Viet Nam. The VNAH is a non-profit
organization founded in 1991 to assist Vietnamese with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups to regain
mobility and improve their socio-economic status. Recently, the VNAH has organized multiple skill mix
programs for the health workforce in collaboration with national/regional governments and educationalorganizations. The Centre and the VNAH plan to embed the Interprofessional Education initiatives into theprograms. As the first step, the Center developed the Vietnamese version of the modified Attitudes Toward
Health Care Team Scale, a broadly used assessment tool in Interprofessional Education.
(2) Outputs delivered
The Vietnamese version of the modified Attitudes Toward Health Care Team Scale is developed.
(3) Difficulty
The Centre would like to continuously support EDCs and educational/training institutions interested in
implementing IPE initiatives in the WPR region. The Centre highly appreciates WHO’s support on this matter.
Activity 3
Title: Collecting evidence for the effect of IPE on attitudes of learners toward IPE and CP
Description: Professionals’ Education and Training: World Health Organization Guidelines 2013, clearly listed
interprofessional education (IPE) as one of the eleven recommendations. However, insufficient evidence forthe effects of IPE on health issues was also pointed out. To disseminate IPE under the WHO HRH Policy toscale up and transform health professions education, evidence for concrete effects of IPE programs onlearners’ attitudes toward the needs of the people and eventually higher quality of the stakeholders must be
acquired. To improve the health system attributes of quality and efficiency, for UHC, stated in Universal Health
Coverage: Moving Towards Better Health, WHO/WPRO 2015, careful scientific research needs to bepromoted. The Centre has published several articles describing attitudinal changes in response to its IPE
training program. Lessons learnt through these research activities are that the efficacy of the IPE might bedivided into common and unique modules of CP, suggesting a more careful evaluation of the diverse IPE
programs. Recently the value of IPE has been appreciated in various fields, especially for aging, disasterrecovery and patient safety. Gunma University developed an instrument to measure attitudes of various
stakeholders towards IPE and CP. Through the strong network of JIPWEN, Gunma University will share its
research findings among JIPWEN universities. In consultation with WHO, the Centre will undertake literature
reviews to develop and publish on IPE approaches with the aim of improving the quality and relevance of
health profession education. The ownership of the reports and/or publications will be vested in the WHO
Collaborating Centre.

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Status: completed(1) Actions taken
1. The Centre encouraged JIPWEN universities as well as the Centre itself to research on the effect of theirunique IPE programs and publish the findings in the scientific journal. Then JIPWEN universities published thefollowing 6 English scientific papers.
(2) Outputs delivered
Six scientific papers in English:
1. OZONE, Sachiko, et al. Students’ understanding of social determinants of health in a community-based
curriculum: a general inductive approach for qualitative data analysis. BMC Medical Education, 2020, 20.1: 18.
2. HAMADA, Shuhei, et al. Effectiveness of an interprofessional education program using team-basedlearning for medical students: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of general and family medicine, 2020,
21.1: 2-9.
3. SY, Michael, et al. Doing interprofessional research in the COVID-19 era: a discussion paper. Journal ofInterprofessional Care, 2020, 34.5: 600-606.
4. NOZAKI, Shinjiro, et al. First-year Medical Students’ Attitudes toward Health Care Teams: A Comparison of
Two Universities Implementing IPE Programs. The Kitakanto Medical Journal, 2021, 71.2: 115-121.
5. YAMAMOTO, Takeshi, et al. Exploring Barriers and Benefits of Implementing Interprofessional Education atHigher Health Professions Education Institutions in Japan. Journal of Allied Health, 2021, 50.2: 97-103.
6. O’CARROLL, Veronica, et al. Top tips for interprofessional education and collaborative practice research: aguide for students and early career researchers. 2021.328-333.
(3) Difficulty
None
Activity 4
Title: Conducting annual training seminar on IPE in collaboration with other WHO CCs
Description: The Centre has provided IPE curricula since 1999, and the achievement and the effects on
attitudes of undergraduate students toward IPE and CP have been demonstrated scientifically andquantitatively. The sustainable implementation and the scientific evaluation owe much to the gentle andcareful guidance for students and teaching staff. The Centre translated its teaching materials for guidance into
English in 2011. The Centre then invited faculty members and government officers interested in IPE fromabroad, and it has organized international training courses on IPE in collaboration with JIPWEN universities inAugust every year since 2013. In the course of the development of the training course, a textbook-like material
has been prepared in discussion with WHO since the previous period of designation.
With technical advise from WHO, the Centre will continue to implement the training courses for educators andhealth practitioners interested in the introduction of IPE curricula through collaborative activities, especially in
the WPR. The Centre will organize an annual training seminar on IPE with participation of faculty from
Member States, potentially in collaboration with other WHO CCs as well as JIPWEN universities.

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ANNUAL REPORT
Status: completed(1) Actions taken
The Centre planned to offer an annual IPE Training Course in August 2020 and called for participants. Though
we received applications from 14 colleagues in 6 countries, we were obliged to cancel the planned course dueto the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Centre gradually got used to online methods, it held an IPE Training
Course Follow-Up Seminar online on 15 February 2021. The Centre has held IPE Training Course annually
since 2013 to provide practical information and a model for the development of IPE programs. The number ofparticipants in the programs between 2013 to 2019 amounted to 84 from 10 countries. After attending the
program, participants are expected to play a central role in implementing and improving IPE programs at their
institutions. The Follow-Up Seminar was held in order to share the experiences of the former participants, and17 former participants from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia, Turkey, and the UK attended. In
the seminar, 7 participants reported the gaps between their plans at the Training Course and their actual
experiences. Participants discussed the difficulties and ideas for overcoming these gaps. The discussion also
covered the challenges of shifting face-to-face to online delivery.
(2) Outputs delivered
Participants expressed the willingness to improve and sustain their IPE programs. It also helped to expand the
network among the former participants of different years.
(3) DifficultyNone
2. Annual report on other activities requested
Should WHO have requested activities in addition to the agreed workplan, please describe related
actions taken by your institution [maximum 200 words]. Please do not include in this report any
activity done by your institution thatwas not requested by and agreed with WHO.
1. The Centre held a Patient Safety Conference in collaboration with the Gunma Medical Association, and theinvited speaker from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare entitled the Trends in Medical
Safety Measures in Maebashi, on 17 September 2020, in commemoration of World Patient Safety Day thathas been promoted by WHO.
2. The Center lit up two iconic monuments in Gunma Prefecture, Rinkokaku (Prefectural Guest House) andByakue Dai-kannon (White-Robed Goddess of Mercy Statue), in orange, which is the image color of World
Patient Safety Day as part of the activities of World Patient Safety Day 2020. The light up continued for sevendays.
3. The Centre organized an online international symposium with speakers from the WHO/WPRO in terms of
the update information on COVID-19 in the WPRO region and WHO’s response on20 February 2021.
4. Two faculty members of the Centre participated on The Second WHO Western Pacific Region Partners’
Forum 2021 from 30 June to 2 July 2021.
3. Resources
Indicate staff time spent on the implementation of activities agreed with WHO (i.e. those mentioned inquestions no. 1 and no. 2 above). Do not include any data related to other activities done by yourinstitution without the agreement of WHO. Please indicate staff time using the number of “full-day
equivalents” – a day of work comprising 8 hours (e.g. 4 hours work per day for 7 days should berecorded as 3.5 full-day equivalents).
Number of staff involved (either partially or fully)
Senior staff

Mid-career staff

Junior staff, PhD students

6

10

0

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Number of full-day equivalents, total for all staff involved
Senior staff

Mid-career staff

Junior staff, PhD students

300

500

0

Implementation of the agreed workplan activities (i.e. those mentioned in questions no. 1 and no. 2
above) normally require resources beyond staff-time, such as the use of laboratory facilities,
purchasing of materials, travel, etc. Please estimate the costs of these other resources as apercentage of the total costs incurred (e.g. if you incurred costs of USD 100 and the value of your staff
time was USD 50 which makes the total of USD 150, please report 33.3% and 66.7%).
Percentage of costs
associated with staff time

Percentage of costs associated with Totalother resources

15.00

85.00

100.004. Networking
Describe any interactions or collaboration with other WHO Collaborating Centres in the context of theimplementation of the agreed activities If you are part of a network of WHO Collaborating Centres,
please also mention the name of the network and describe your involvement in that network[maximum 200 words].
1. The Centre participated in the workshop hosted by he University of the Philippines Manila(WHOCC/PHL-13) entitled "Issues faced by National Health Service" in an international symposium on 19
March 2021.
2. The Centre organized an international symposium with the speaker of the executive officer of WHO/WPROwith the presentation entitled “WHO strategy for the COVID-19 in Western Pacific Region” on 20 February
2021. The Centre invited members of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine (WHOCC/JPN-94),
St. Luke's International University (WHOCC/JPN-58), University of Hyogo (WHOCC/JPN-77), Niigata
University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences (WHOCC/JPN-75), Director of Patient Safety
Promotion Office, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Director of Medical attache, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to the symposium, and had a discussion on WHO strategy and collaboration for COVID-19.

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