JNA News Release

June 2023 Vol.41

JNA News Release
Japanese Nursing Association
5-8-2 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001, JAPAN

Tel: +81-3-5778-8559

Fax: +81-3-5778-5602

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

Appointment of new Board members
The Japanese Nursing Association (JNA) heldits 2023 Annual General Convention on June 7,
attended by a total of 1,834 delegates andgeneral members. As a result of the election ofthe Board members, Ms. Hiroe Takahashi waselected as the 14th JNA President. Other newlyappointed Board members are Prof. Kazuko Ninand Prof. Noriko Yamamoto as Vice Presidents,
and Dr. Yukari Nakano as an Executive Officer.
Dr. Nakano will be in charge of international

JNA Executive Board Members FY2023
President
Hiroe Takahashi (newly-elected)
Vice Presidents
Kumiko Ii
Kazuko Nin (newly-elected)
Noriko Yamamoto (newly-elected)
Executive Director Hamako Katsumata (re-elected)
Executive Officers
Kumiko Yoshikawa (re-elected)
Hiroko Imoto
Mineko Moriuchi (re-elected)
Akiyo Kizawa (re-elected)
Yumi Tamogami (re-elected)
Yukari Nakano (newly-elected)

affairs. ■Hiroe TAKAHASHI, RN, MW, MA, JNA President
Prior to her appointment as JNA President, Ms. Hiroe Takahashi served as Presidentof the Osaka prefectural Nursing Association, and as a Board Member, Prefectural
Representative of the JNA for six years. She has developed some innovative projects
through industry-government-academia collaboration, and during the COVID-19
pandemic, she has dedicated herself to supporting nursing professionals on thefront lines. Her nursing experience expands from educator/researcher ininternational nursing to director of nursing at a hospital. She received the Healthy
Society Award in 2021. She holds a master’s degree in arts.
Ms. Hiroe Takahashi
New JNA President

G7 Health Ministers’ Meeting in Nagasaki
1) JNA’s Participation in on-site exhibition
JNA participated and set up a display booth in the on-site
exhibition, a side event of the G7 Health Ministers' Meeting inNagasaki on May 13-14 (Photo 1).
At the JNA booth, powerful video messages were delivered by
the ICN President Pamela Cipriano and the JNA then President
Toshiko Fukui on the joint statement to the G7 Hiroshima
Summit and G7 Health Ministers’ Meeting in Nagasaki. A videotitled ‘Individual Testimonies of Nursing Care after the Atomic
Bombing of Nagasaki in 1945’, and an animation on nursing in
the remote Japanese island also drew attention.
1 |G7 Health Ministers' Meeting in Nagasaki participants(G7 Health Ministers, government officials, andrepresentatives of EU, ASEAN presidency, and G20presidency) and booth exhibitors. Dr. Kizawa,Executive Officer, represented JNA.
*The photo provided by MHLWJNA News Release

June 2023 Vol.41

Our display panels featured the JNA's efforts to sustain andstrengthen UHC, and nursing and the social situation in Japan,
which has achieved UHC at an early stage and is facing newchallenges. The contents of the panels were as follows:(1)Challenges of Nursing toward 2040 in Japan, (2) Nursing
Innovation toward 2040, (3) Creating a Healthy Community led
by Public Health Nurses, (4) Promotion of Women's Active
Engagement led by Midwives (Midwife-led Continuity of Care
Model of Practice) (5) Nursing Contribution during the COVID-19
Pandemic and Future Challenges.

【Photo 1】JNA booth

The exhibition hall attracted many meeting participants including
Health Ministers and government officials from G7 members,
ASEAN Presidency, G20 Presidency, media representatives andexhibitors.
When Health Ministers and representatives visited the JNA boothon May 13, along with our panel, we emphasized that without
healthcare professionals including nurses, it is impossible toachieve rebuilding a strong healthcare system and UHC, and we
asked for discussion placed human resources centered andurged the need for support and investment in the healthcare
professionals.
In this context, Canadian Health Minister agreed that healthcare【Photo 2】Canadian Health Minister (third from right)
and representative, and Dr. Nakano and Dr. Kizawa,
JNA Executive Officers

professionals are the heart of UHC and exchanged views on thechallenges of securing nursing professionals and the importanceof support for that. The Minister kindly welcomed our participationin the upcoming ICN Congress to be held in Montreal, Canadafrom July 1 (Photo 2).
Moreover, we exchanged views with UK Health Minister andrepresentatives on social issues facing the UK and Japan, whichhave similar demographics and challenges. They expressed aninterest in our effort and target number of securing the nursing
workforce by utilizing unemployed nurses with a long-term
perspective. We shared a common understanding that theimprovement of the working environment for nurses is an urgent【Photo 3】UK Health Minister

issue in order to secure active nursing professionals (Photo 3).
We shared with Indonesian Health Minister and representatives
on issues including the current mental health of nurses in light of
the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgent need to take action tosecure the nursing workforce in the future.
Representatives from many countries expressed their interest in
nursing professional associations' efforts in policy promotion. We
explained how the JNA, other national nursing associations andICN have been sharing the experiences with each other in orderto provide high quality nursing care to the public and to develop
2 |【 Photo 4】 Mr. Kato, Japanese Minister of Health,Labour and Welfare (far right)

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June 2023 Vol.41

nursing and the nursing profession, and stressed the importance of the role of nursing associations in each country.
Mr. Katsunobu Kato, Japanese Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare also visited our booth and stated that
support for healthcare professionals became an important part of the discussion (Photo 4). ■2) Outcome documents of G7 Health Ministers’ meeting in Nagasaki
Following the meeting in Nagasaki, the G7 Health Ministers adopted the G7 Nagasaki Health Ministers’Communiqué*1 on the G7’s direction and actions, as well as the G7 Global Plan for UHC Action Agenda *2 as anannex to the Communiqué, in which outlines actions to be taken by the G7 to accelerate efforts to achieve UHC
worldwide by 2030.
The outcome documents of the G7 Health Ministers' Meeting in Nagasaki outline the future initiatives needed foroverall healthcare, including known issues. Since the G7 is a framework for discussion by developed countries
with a global perspective, leadership in support of other countries is the main focus; however, the resolution ofissues in each of the G7 members is also mentioned as a premise.
In the G7 Global Plan for UHC, the G7 Health Ministers also committed to taking action in the eight action areas
outlined in the UHC Action Agenda, in order to support country-led efforts to implement UHC, to maximize theoutcomes of the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on UHC, and to achieve UHC worldwide.
These outcome documents are the proof of the G7 members’ agreement on securing and supporting healthcare
professionals, investment in healthcare, and innovation in healthcare systems, which are consistent with the JNA‘s
recommendations for the G7 meetings; therefore, they can serve as a basis for the JNA to promote nursing policyin the future. They are also highly compatible with the nature of nursing as the entire documents refer to the priorityof primary health care. As an area of high novelty, it is mentioned to promote the accumulation of individual healthinformation using digital technology within international frameworks, not only for use in healthcare practice, butalso to promote evidence-based policy making. The future progress should be closely monitored in this regard. ■*1 https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10500000/001096403.pdf (in English)*2 https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10500000/001096405.pdf (in English)

JNA President’s AwardJNA President's Award was presented at the Annual General
Convention in June. The winners included Dr. Masako KanaiPak, the former ICN First Vice President in 2013-2017, and Prof.
Megumi Teshima, a current ICN Board member. ■Dr. Kanai-Pak (left), Dr. Fukui, then JNA President(middle), Prof. Teshima (right)

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