JNA News Release2021.March Vol.33

JNA News Release
Japanese Nursing Association

5-8-2 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001, JAPAN

Tel: +81-3-5778-8559

Fax: +81-3-5778-5602

http://www.nurse.or.jp/jna/english/

Nursing Now Forum in Japan held with great success!
The Japanese Nursing Association (JNA) cohosted the Nursing Now Forum in Japan withthe Sasakawa Health Foundation on January
21, 2021. This event was held in collaboration
with the Nursing Now Campaign in Japan madeup of 30 nursing organizations, with the themeof "Nursing Now: Creating the Future by Powerof Nursing". The aim of this Forum was tohighlight the social value of nursing byDr. Toshiko Fukui, JNA President (left) and Dr. Etsuko Kita, Chair offacilitating the evidence-based discussion on

Sasakawa Health Foundation (right)

nursing to promote people’s healthy lives andcontribute to efficient delivery of healthcare

services. The forum promoted understandings of the Nursing Now through presentations given by experts fromJapan and global, facilitated the discussions based on the experiences, and announced the Nursing Now
Nippon Declaration in order to promote further efforts in Japan. Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
pandemic, the event had been postponed from its original date of May 2020 and was held virtually as webinars.
All the contents including the opening session, three concurrent sessions and closing session were distributed
on-line. The event attracted about 5,300 registers from Japan and overseas. The video recordings of the forum
has been released in English and Japanese on JNA’s YouTube Channel for a wide range of viewers.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvJW_VJ0vcStHRM0Buyg9xw/videos

Prof. Megumi Teshima (left) and Ms. Masako Miura,

Nursing organizations promoting Nursing Now andPresident

Prefectural Nursing Associations organized groupofAichi

Nursing

Association

discussed at Concurrent Session 1.

1|(right)

viewing

JNA News Release2021.March Vol.33

 Opening session
At the opening session, the JNA President Toshiko Fukui
expressed gratitude to the nurses corresponding to COVID19 and stated that it would be the first step "to create thefuture by power of nursing". Lord Nigel Crisp, Co-Chair of
the global Nursing Now, Ms. Elizabeth Iro, Chief Nursing
Officer of WHO, and Ms. Annette Kennedy, ICN President,
delivered powerful video messages to support the nurse'swork. Subsequently, Dr. Barbara Stilwell, Executive
Director of Nursing Now, gave a keynote speech, and Dr.
JNA President stated that it would be the first step ”tocreate the future by power of nursing”

Nina Hahtela, President of Finnish Nurses Association,
introduced collaborative activities

across regions and countries. Prof. Megumi Teshima, Professor of Graduate School of Nursing, Chiba
University, gave a presentation on the importance of dialogue and cooperation using the data, entitled "Utilizing
Evidence for Nursing Practice in Japan: From Invisible to Visible". Prof. Swee Hia Lim, Senior Director of Special
Projects, Executive Office, SingHealth, shared information on community nursing in Singapore which, likeJapan, has been focusing on community care to achieve sustainable healthcare with increasing aging
population. Ms. Nahoko Uchida, Manager of Japan Community Impact, Johnson & Johnson Family ofCompanies in Japan, introduced the TOMODACHI J&J Disaster Nursing Training Program, which is a social
contribution activity based on corporate social responsibility. Through the session, it was confirmed that theactivities and practices of nurses should be central to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and that the power of nurses should be utilized more actively.

Ms. Annette Kennedy, ICN President(left) and Ms. Elizabeth Iro(middle), WHO Chief Nursing Officer delivered a video
message. Prof. Megumi Teshima, Graduate School of Nursing, Chiba University(right) spoke on utilizing evidence for nursing
practice.

Prof. Swee Hia Lim, Senior Director, Special Projects,
Executive Office, SingHealth, presented about Community
Nursing in Singapore.

2|JNA News Release2021.March Vol.33

 Concurrent Session 1: Triple Impact and Policy
Concurrent Session 1, hosted by JNA, aimed to facilitate discussions about the importance of evidence thatinfluences policymaking through the nursing contribution to society and the SDGs and successful cases ofevidence-informed policy promotion, and clarify the significance of "providing evidence to policy and decisionmakers for policy realization," which is one of the aims of the Nursing Now Campaign. Following an explanationon the relationship between the triple impact and nursing in Japan by Dr. Akiko Araki, Executive Officer of JNA,Dr. Hiromi Sanada, Professor of Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, gave a presentation on
the importance of policy research with example of her research efforts on pressure ulcer treatment and Training
System for Nurses to Perform Specific Medical Interventions. Presidents of Nurses' Associations of Canada,Ireland, Korea, Chile, Lebanon and Australia introduced their experiences in each country. Then, the presenters
and Forum participants exchanged opinions about leadership and evidence accumulation.

Prof. Megumi Teshima(left), Dr. Akiko Araki,Executive Officer of JNA(middle) and Dr. Hiromi
Sanada, Graduate School of Medicine, Universityof Tokyo (right), discussed about the importance ofevidence in policy.

Mr. Tim Guest, President of Canadian Nurses Association (left) presented Canadian experience about evidence andpolicy and Dr. Myrna Abi Abdallah Doumit, President of Order of Nurses in Lebanon(right) joined the forum online.

 Concurrent Session 2: Home-care Nursing and SDGs - Social Innovation by Nurses Nurses have been strongly counted on to engage in maintaining and promoting the health of local
communities and residents around the world, as the aging population grows rapidly. In particular, it is necessary
for nurses to expand their activities further in the future in order to change people’s health awareness based on3|

JNA News Release2021.March Vol.33

the principle of Primary Health Care (PHC), in which people should consider their own health, and in order torealize a sustainable society and achieve the SDGs through the effective use of appropriate medical resources.
The session invited three nursing experts; Dr. Judith Shamian, a clinical expert of home nursing in Canada,
which has a long history of home nursing; Dr. Marla Salmon, an educator who has been encouraging nursing
and midwifery enterprise in developing countries, and; Dr. Andrea Baumann, a researcher who has been
pursuing nursing roles in terms of global health. Also, there were three nurses from Japan made presentations,
who are running their own home nursing centers in Japan, after they completed the program called “The Nippon
Foundation Home Nurse Entrepreneur Training Program”, run by the Sasakawa Health Foundation. They
discussed the role and potential of nursing/nurses in the community in the future.

Dr. Judith Shamian, ICN President
Emerita(left), Dr. Marla Salmon,
Professor of Nursing and Global
Health and Adjunct Professor ofPublic Policy and Governance,
UniversityofWashington(topright), and Dr. Etsuko Kita, Chair of
Sasakawa

HealthFoundation(bottom right).

 Concurrent Session 3: The Contribution of Nursing to the Construction of a DisasterResistant Community and a Safe and Secure Society
Disasters seem to be increasing in severity, both in frequency and scale, worldwide due to climate change,
rapid population growth, urbanization and social and religious conflicts. The Sendai Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted at the 2015 Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction,highlighting the importance of efforts in the healthcare sector. In its Position Statement, the ICN states that theinvolvement of nurses is essential in disaster risk prevention and reduction, and expresses its support for theSendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Japan is a country prone to natural disasters and leads theworld in disaster preparedness. In the experiences of large-scaledisasters, such as Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, Great East Japan
Earthquake and others, Japanese nurses demonstrated at home andabroad their integrated practice in protecting people’s lives andsupporting a healthy lifestyle at every stage of disaster risk reduction,response, and recovery. Nurses are also at the forefront of the world's
response to COVID-19, and are committed to protecting people's lives
Dr. Walter de Caro, President of Italianand livelihoods. With these backgrounds, the panelists discussed onwhat is needed to build a disaster-resilient community and how

4|

Nurses Association presented their lessons
from COVID-19 response.

JNA News Release2021.March Vol.33

nursing can contribute to building a safe and secure society, following presentations by leading experts in
disaster mitigation and recovery, an introduction of activities overseas, and a review of disaster nursing
initiatives in Japan to date.

Panelists discussed on building a disaster-resistant community and nursing contribution to a safe and secure society. From
top left Dr. Kumiko Ii, JNA Vice President, Dr. Mariko Ohara, Professor of Seisen Jogakuin College, Dr. Sonoe Mashino,
Executive Director of Research Institute of Nursing Care for People and Community, University of Hyogo. From bottom left,
Ms. Noriko Ikeda, Chief of the International Medical Relief Section, Osaka Red Cross Hospital International Medical Relief
Dep., Dr. Yukari Igarashi, Professor of Women’s Health/Midwifery, St. Luke’s International University and Dr. Yoko Hamadate,
JICA-Japan International Cooperation Agency.

 Closing session
As a review by the moderators of the Concurrent Sessions, Prof. Megumi Teshima, spoke from Concurrent
Session 1 about the need for each nurse to speak up and deliver the necessary evidence where it is needed,
and the need to accumulate evidence for this purpose. From Concurrent Session 2, Dr. Etsuko Kita, Chair of
Sasakawa Health Foundation, reported and expressed that local residents and nurses to talk to each otherthoroughly in order to devote their efforts to thinking about their own health in community care settings. FromConcurrent Session 3, Dr.
Sonoe

Mashino,ExecutiveDirector, Research Institute ofNursing Care for People andCommunity,

Universityof

Hyogo, reported that nurses
themselves,

whoareindispensable

inoftimes

disaster as well as normal,
should be protected, and that5|

JNA News Release2021.March Vol.33

the importance of nurses working as members of the community on a daily basis to prepare for disasters wasconfirmed.
Toshiko Fukui, JNA President announced the Nursing Now Nippon Declaration and closed the forum.

Nursing Now Nippon Declaration
The Nursing Now Forum in Japan examined the importance of evidence in policymaking, communityactivities, and disaster preparedness, response and recovery. It reaffirmed that, regardless of social
circumstances, nurses have the power to contribute not only to the health of individual people but also to thefostering of community health culture and to the development of society in general. The activities andpractices of nurses are key to the achievement of the global targets of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). Recognizing that nurses need to make more active use of their skills and expertise, we hereby
declare that we will continue to work together as follows:We will contribute even more than ever to the creation of healthy communities and societies, and to therealization of safe, secure, and healthy lifestyles for all people throughout the lifespan;We will participate in the decision-making process to promote the respective transformations from policy
to practice to enable nurses to meet social needs and maximize their abilities in all settings;

We will endeavour to accumulate a broad spectrum of evidence to contribute to better decision-making
based on the best available evidence, and;

We will share Japan’s efforts and achievements with the world, striving to achieve the global SDG targets
and the improvement of the health of people around the world.

 Program book of the Forumhttps://www.nurse.or.jp/nursing/practice/nursing_now/nncj/assets/pdf/event/nn2020forum_program.pdf

6|