The 133rd Installment
Start of Healthy Longevity Design Course
by Kenichi Tabei,
Assistant Professor
Have you ever heard of the phrase “healthy longevity”?
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s health information website for the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases states the following:
―――――
healthy longevity:
A new measure proposed by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), it is the period of needing long-term care, such as being bedridden or having dementia, subtracted from average life expectancy.
The WHO has introduced a new measure of life expectancy called healthy longevity. It was pointed out that average life expectancy includes the period during which people require long-term care, such as when they are bedridden or have dementia, and that there is a large gap with the healthy period of a person's life.
This bedridden period is longer in Japan than in Western countries, and lasts more than six years. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's “Healthy Japan 21” also includes various measures for the purpose of “extending healthy longevity.”
―――――
From this academic year, AIIT will offer a certificate program called “Healthy Longevity Design Course” (https://aiit.ac.jp/master_program/certification_program/).
The objective of this program is to integrate medical welfare, design, and information engineering for value creation and to solve problems in the field of healthy longevity in the age of declining birthrates and an aging population, and also to acquire knowledge in fields related to healthy longevity and specific methods of applying design thinking.
As mentioned above, healthy life expectancy is a new measure proposed by the WHO, and is life expectancy minus the duration of long-term care, such as while having dementia or being bedridden. Since life expectancy up to now includes periods of long-term care, such as having dementia and being bedridden, the large gap with the healthy period of a person’s life has now come to be viewed as problematic. Generally, healthy longevity is defined as average life expectancy minus 10 years. However, in Japan, the problem is that people are bedridden for more than six years, which is longer than in Western countries.
Japan is about to become a super-aging society, something never before experienced by humanity. The number of people of working age supporting one elderly person has dropped from 10.8 in 1965 to 2.3 in 2015, and is expected to decline further to 1.3 in 2065. It is clear as day that Japan's health care, welfare, and economy will collapse if things stay the same, and there are fears that it will also lead to the collapse of the families and communities that support the country’s very foundations. In order to prevent this, in addition to increasing the number of working-age people by improving the birthrate, it is necessary to extend healthy longevity, namely, to enable people to stay healthy right until they reach the end of their life, and to prepare structures so that people can remain in familiar homes and communities for as long as possible even in times of illness, or disability. For this, it is necessary to develop devices to maintain, manage, and promote physical and mental health, or to care for and rehabilitate those with illnesses or disabilities, in addition to intangible factors such as the proper management of adult diseases from middle age, awareness-raising about their importance, development of social systems, and effective utilization of health checkup data to maintain health. This program explores ways to address Japan’s pressing issue of “healthy longevity in an aging society with declining birthrates” through a multifaceted approach.
This program is designed for those who are interested in learning about “healthy longevity in an aging society with declining birthrates” and related fields, and who are focused on life design, nursing care design, business design, and social system design. Although no previous experience is required, I do expect students to have a high degree of interest and need to learn about healthy longevity in an era of declining birthrates and an aging population.
- Users focused on life design, or living closely with the elderly, will design a concept of how they or their family members should live, from the perspectives of cognitive and physical functions and health care.
- Users focused on nursing care design, or who are working as elderly caregivers, will design institutional care and home care in nursing care from the perspectives of dementia medicine, psychology, biology, and business.
- Users focused on business design, or who are involved in the medical business, will design a new business related to healthy longevity.
- Users focused on social system design, or who are involved in public administration, will design systems necessary for extending healthy longevity and care for physical and mental illnesses and disabilities from a social system perspective.
I look forward to meeting all of you who want to create value, solve problems, and innovate in the healthy longevity field in the age of declining birthrates and an aging population!