Professor Renki Kobayashi, Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
At the university, I am in charge of public health and health and medical policy studies. In addition to teaching medical and postgraduate students, I am involved in research on various health and medical issues.
Recent research findings include a hospital admissions big data analysis, which reported a downward trend in hospital admissions due to asthma since March 2020. This result suggests that preventive actions against new coronas, such as hand washing, masks and avoiding crowds, are also effective in preventing asthma. In addition, an international joint study of workers in Japan, South Korea and eight European countries reported that while mortality rates decreased in almost all occupations in the ten countries, in Japan there was an increase in mortality rates among managers, coinciding with the economic recession since the late 1990s. This report was covered by many media outlets and caused a stir in the Japanese workforce.
Now, the use of information technology to support parents who are struggling to balance work and child rearing is an urgent social issue in a society with a declining birthrate. It is necessary to gather the collective knowledge of not only the government, but also companies and academic institutions to build a better system. We hope that this joint industry-government-academia research project by CI, Yokosuka City and our laboratory will play a part in this.
The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Division of Public Health Medicine, Department of Health and Medical Policy, website
Masaki Sonoda, President, Connected Industries Ltd.
Our company is working towards the realisation of a society where people can give birth and raise their children with peace of mind. The sick child care service is a solution for parents who have trouble coping with their children's sudden illnesses, but unfortunately the hurdles to using this service are high. The sick child care service is a government childcare support project. By working together with Yokosuka City, we would like to work towards a system that benefits all guardians, facility staff and local government officials. We are also very pleased to be able to verify through joint research with the University of Tokyo whether ICT can really be effective. We will make every effort to realise an environment in which better childcare support can be obtained for the citizens of Yokosuka.
The full text of the three parties' comments was published on 19 January on the 'Yokosuka City Official Youtube Channel'.
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