Defining and Acting on Global Health: The Case of Japan and the Refugee Crisis

Document Type : Perspective

Authors

1 Department of Research, Minamisoma Municipal General Hospital, Fukushima, Japan

2 Department of Surgery, Minamisoma Municipal General Hospital, Fukushima, Japan

3 Department of Neurosurgery, Minamisoma Municipal General Hospital, Fukushima, Japan

4 Department of Internal Medicine, Soma Central Hospital, Fukushima, Japan

5 Department of Internal Medicine, Jōban Hospital, Tokiwa Foundation, Fukushima, Japan

Abstract

What counts as global health? There has been limited discourse to date on the ways in which country-level contexts may shape positioning in global health agendas. By reviewing Japan’s response to the refugee crisis, we demonstrate a clash between rhetoric and action on global responsibility, and suggest that cultural and historical factors may be related to the ways of perceiving and acting upon global health.

Highlights

Commentaries Published on this Paper

  • How the Spectre of Societal Homogeneity Undermines Equitable Healthcare for Refugees; Comment on “Defining and Acting on Global Health: The Case of Japan and the Refugee Crisis”

          Abstract | PDF

  • Forced Migration and Global Responsibility for Health; Comment on “Defining and Acting on Global Health: The Case of Japan and the Refugee Crisis”

          Abstract | PDF

Keywords

Main Subjects


  1. UNDP Support to the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) website. http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/sustainable-development-goals/undp-support-to-the-implementation-of-the-2030-agenda/. Accessed May 21, 2016.
  2. Abe S. Japan's vision for a peaceful and healthier world. Lancet. 2015;386:2367-2369. Doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01172-1
  3. Gostin LO, Roberts AE. Forced migration: the human face of a health crisis. JAMA. 2015;314:2125-2126. Doi:10.1001/jama.2015.14906.
  4. Adapting to migration as a planetary force. Lancet. 2015;386:1013. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00190-7
  5. Morabia A, Benjamin GC. The Refugee Crisis in the Middle East and Public Health. Am J Public Health. 2015;105(12):2405-2406. Doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302929
  6. Rousseau C, ter Kuile S, Muňoz M, et al. Health Care Access for Refugees and Immigrants with Precarious Status: Public Health and Human Right Challenges. Can J Public Health. 2008;99(4):290-292.
  7. Kupferschmidt K. Refugee crisis brings new health challenges. Science. 2016;352(6284):391-392. Doi:10.1126/science.352.6284.391
  8. Chen L, Narasimhan V. Human security and global health. J Hum Dev. 2003;4(2):181-190. doi:10.1080/1464988032000087532
  9. Activity Report. Japan Association for Refugees website. https://www.refugee.or.jp/jar/report/2015/03/12-0000.shtml. Accessed May 26, 2016. (Japanese Language).
  10. Takenaka K, Wildon T, Funakoshi M, et al. Asylum seekers in Japan reach record 7,586 in 2015. Reuters. January 23, 2016. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-immigrants-idUSKCN0V10E7. Accessed May 26, 2016.
  11. UNICEF chief urges Japan to open its doors to more refugees. The Japan Times. October 18, 2015. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/18/national/politics-diplomacy/unicef-chief-urges-japan-open-doors-refugees/#.VmqsM781p8V. Accessed May 26, 2016.
  12. Rowson M, Willott C, Hughes R, et al. Conceptualising global health: theoretical issues and their relevance for teaching. Global Health. 2012;8(1):36. doi:10.1186/1744-8603-8-36
  13. Koplan JP, Bond TC, Merson MH, et al. Towards a common definition of global health. Lancet. 2009;373(9679):1993-1995. Doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60332-9
  14. Llano R, Kanamori S, Kunii O. Re-invigorating Japan's commitment to global health: challenges and opportunities. Lancet. 2011;378(9798):1255-1264. Doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61048-9
  15. Tsuchida T. 50 years of universal health care (Japanese language). Social Security Research Quarterly. 2011;47:3.
  16. Ikegami N, Yoo BK, Hashimoto H, et al. Japanese universal health coverage: evolution, achievements, and challenges. Lancet. 2011;378(9796):1106-1115.
  17. Ravishankar N, Gubbins P, Cooley RJ, et al. Financing of global health: tracking development assistance for health from 1990 to 2007. Lancet. 2009;373(9681):2113-24. Doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60881-3
  18. Takahashi K, Kobayashi J. Lessons from the field count more than ever: the new era of global health. Trop Med Health. 2015;43(4):243-245.
  19. Goodman R. Making Majority Culture. In: Robertson J, ed. A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan. Malden: Blackwell Publishing; 2005:59-72.
  20. Creighton M. Soto Other and Uchi Others: Imaging Racial Diversity, Imagining Homogeneous Japan. In: Weiner M, ed. Japan’s Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity. London: Routledge; 1997:211-38.
  21. Bachnik J. Uchi/Soto: Challenging our conceptualizations of self, social order, and language. In: Bachnik J, Quinn C, eds. Situated Meaning: Inside and Outside in Japanese Self, Society, and Language. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1994:3-37.
  22. Robertson J. Blood talks: Eugenic modernity and the creation of new Japanese. Hist Anthropol. 2002;13(3):191-216. doi:10.1080/0275720022000025547
  23. Robertson J. Hemato-nationalism: The Past, Present, and Future of “Japanese Blood”. Med Anthropol. 2012;31(2):93-112. doi:10.1080/01459740.2011.624957
  24. Dean M, Nagashima M. Sharing the burden: the role of government and NGOs in protecting and providing for asylum seekers and refugees in Japan. J Refug Stud. 2007;20(3):481-508. doi:10.1093/jrs/fem009
  25. Flowers PR. Failure to Protect Refugees? Domestic Institutions, International Organizations, and Civil Society in Japan. J Jpn Stud. 2008;34(2):333-361. doi:10.1353/jjs.0.0028
  26. Ogata S. Asylum policy reform: Embracing a literal perspective. Message to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations Symposium on Japan’s Refugee Protection System, Tokyo. http://www.unhcr.or.jp/html/protect/pdf/nov02ms_ogata.pdf. Accessed May 20, 2016. Published November 16, 2002.
  27. Mie A. Japan to take in 150 Syrians as exchange students after criticism of harsh refugee policy. The Japan Times. May 20, 2016. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/20/national/japan-take-150-syrians-exchange-students-criticism-harsh-refugee-policy/#.V0P2FOTEIqt. Accessed May 24, 2016.
  28. Parkinson SE, Behrouzan O. Negotiating health and life: Syrian refugees and the politics of access in Lebanon. Soc Sci Med. 2015;146:324-331. Doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.10.008.