What person, group or organization is being profiled, and why are they of interest to this project? The Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare holds significance to the Asthma Files because it is the primary health governance body in Japan.
What have they done – through research, or a public health program or education forum, for example-- that illustrates how they have worked to improve air pollution governance and environmental public health? The Ministry appears to have focused more on basic-level data collection, rather than actively putting out new policies, or researching ways to make health initiatives more effective. Although some of the site and its resources are in Japanese so this may not be entirely accurate, the information seemed to be limited to statistics about death rates, hospital stay lengths, etc.
What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed? 1998-1999: First annual report on Health and Welfare published (as shown on website) 2007-2008: After a ten year gap, the next annual Health, Labour and Welfare Report is published online. Reports up through 2014 are available online, however no reports for 1999-2007 either exist or are publicly available. These reports do not contain information regarding asthma or air pollutants. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/index.html
Does this person, group or organization claim to have a new or unique way of addressing environmental public health? Does this approach point to or suggest problems with other approaches? No, the Japan Ministry of Health has made no such claims, but they're public website suggests that they have had very little to do with national asthma studies.
What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created? As previously mentioned, there is very little information on asthma as a public health concern. The Ministry of the Environment, although, has been more active in doing this research. One such public display of information is a chart which provides the Environmental Air Quality Standards in Japan for 11 substances. https://www.env.go.jp/en/air/aq/aq.html
Questions 6-12 The Japan Ministry for Health, Labour and Welfare appears to have done very little to address either asthma or air pollution as a health and social concern. So, if there have been any significant initiatives or research groups and processes they are not readily or publicly displayed. There are limited white papers on the website addressing these things, and the white papers that are there contain to mention of asthma, air pollution, etc. 13.What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health? Since there is very little to go off of, the Japanese government should at least start with basic information regarding asthma on the Health, Labour and Welfare site. From there, a group dedicated to the study of air pollution as a public health concern, and not just as an environmental one, should be enacted to perform studies and collaborative research with the Environmental Ministry, for example. 14.How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization? The Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is more of an example of how a country should not consider and look at asthma or air pollution. Of course, an anti-example can be just as helpful, and sometimes more so, than a “good” example.
- What person, group or organization is being profiled, and why are they of interest to this project?
- What have they done – through research, or a public health program or education forum, for example-- that illustrates how they have worked to improve air pollution governance and environmental public health?
- What timeline of events illustrates how this way of addressing environmental public health has developed?
- Does this person, group or organization claim to have a new or unique way of addressing environmental public health? Does this approach point to or suggest problems with other approaches?
- What data have they collected or used to support their approach to environmental public health? What visualizations of this data have been created?
Questions 6-12The Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare holds significance to the Asthma Files because it is the primary health governance body in Japan.
The Ministry appears to have focused more on basic-level data collection, rather than actively putting out new policies, or researching ways to make health initiatives more effective. Although some of the site and its resources are in Japanese so this may not be entirely accurate, the information seemed to be limited to statistics about death rates, hospital stay lengths, etc.
1998-1999: First annual report on Health and Welfare published (as shown on website)
2007-2008: After a ten year gap, the next annual Health, Labour and Welfare Report is published online. Reports up through 2014 are available online, however no reports for 1999-2007 either exist or are publicly available. These reports do not contain information regarding asthma or air pollutants.
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/index.html
No, the Japan Ministry of Health has made no such claims, but they're public website suggests that they have had very little to do with national asthma studies.
As previously mentioned, there is very little information on asthma as a public health concern. The Ministry of the Environment, although, has been more active in doing this research. One such public display of information is a chart which provides the Environmental Air Quality Standards in Japan for 11 substances.
https://www.env.go.jp/en/air/aq/aq.html
The Japan Ministry for Health, Labour and Welfare appears to have done very little to address either asthma or air pollution as a health and social concern. So, if there have been any significant initiatives or research groups and processes they are not readily or publicly displayed. There are limited white papers on the website addressing these things, and the white papers that are there contain to mention of asthma, air pollution, etc.
13. What kinds of governance are (implicitly or explicitly) called for in the way they think about environmental health?
Since there is very little to go off of, the Japanese government should at least start with basic information regarding asthma on the Health, Labour and Welfare site. From there, a group dedicated to the study of air pollution as a public health concern, and not just as an environmental one, should be enacted to perform studies and collaborative research with the Environmental Ministry, for example.
14. How can The Asthma Files enable or supplement this way of thinking about environmental health, and the work of this person, group or organization?
The Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is more of an example of how a country should not consider and look at asthma or air pollution. Of course, an anti-example can be just as helpful, and sometimes more so, than a “good” example.