Outline of the Greater Sendai Area Knowledge Cluster Initiative
Sendai Cluster for Advanced Preventive-based Community Health: Greater Sendai Region
With the recent rapid aging of society and decline in the birth rate, the setting up of social systems and infrastructure to respond to them has lagged. This has led to a noted increase in medical and care costs. While existing medical treatment (secondary and tertiary prevention) for illnesses already contracted is indispensable, we also need to strengthen our approaches to primary prevention, preventing the outbreak itself of illnesses. This will prevent these cost increases and at the same time achieve a safe, secure, and healthy lifestyle for our citizens.
In this region, we are working to create a "Cluster for the Development of Advanced Preventive-based Community Health" for the accumulation of knowledge regarding advanced illness prevention and health maintenance, and the concentration of industries that utilize this knowledge to develop the services and devices needed for illness prevention and health maintenance. This will utilize the advanced research resources of facilities such as Tohoku University and Tohoku Fukushi University, and we aim to use the Cluster to establish a well-balanced mix of improvements in the quality of citizensf health, greater efficiency in administration costs, and revitalization of the regional economy.
Towards the Realization of the Sendai Cluster for Advanced Preventative-style Community Health
The promotion of preventative medicine and self-empowered health management will be required by the hyper-aging society of the future. Accordingly, we shall take the initiative in this in the Tohoku region, where graying is particularly prevalent compared with the rest of the country and promote specific measures for preventive medicine and self-empowered health management through industry- academia- government partnerships, aiming to contribute to the building of a society in which all can live healthy lives. We shall also aim for the concentration of industry through developing and attracting corporations that provide related devices and services.
In order to achieve this, we will press forward with establishing advanced measures for disease prevention and health maintenance. This will be achieved by the development and verification of technology for acquiring biological and medical data, of communication technology, analytical and diagnostic technology, and of practical support technology for data-based disease prevention and health maintenance activities. Information technology will thus make health self-management possible for private citizens by allowing them access to, and use of, health-related information.