Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

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October 5th, 2009

Office of International Cooperation,

International Affairs Division,

Minister's Secretariat

Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare, Japan

1-2-2 Kasumigaseki,Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 100-8916, Japan

Tel: +81-3-3595-2404 (Direct)

Fax: +81-3-3502-6678

The 7th ASEAN & Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies
Outline of Summary

1. Theme

Towards an Inclusive Society

-strengthening the collaboration between social welfare, health and medical systems for Children with Disabilities

2. About meeting

Duration and venue

From 31 August to 3 September 2009, MITA KAIGISHO, Tokyo

Organizers

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, JAPAN (MHLW)

Collaborators

The ASEAN Secretariat

WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific (WPRO)
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Secretariat

Japan International Corporation of Welfare Services (JICWELS)

Participants

41 High level officials (including 2 undersecretaries) from Kingdom of Cambodia, Republic of Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, The Union of Myanmar, Republic of the Philippines, Kingdom of Thailand, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam and the Republic of Singapore

3 officials from ASEAN Secretariat, 1 official from WPRO, 1 official from ESCAP

3. Programme

Monday 31 August 2009

· Opening Address (Mr. Taro Muraki, Assistant Minister for International Affairs, MHLW)

· Introduction “The 7th ASEAN & Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies “Towards an Inclusive Society” ” (Mr. Nobuyuki Takakura, Deputy Assistant Minister for International Affairs, Minister’s Secretariat, MHLW)

· Keynote Speech “Toward a Coexistence Society” (Prof. Yasuhide Nakamura, Professor, Department of International Collaboration, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University)

· Keynote Speech “Toward the Full Participation and Equality –Social Welfare for Children with Disabilities-” (Prof. Hideharu Uemura, Director of Social Work Research Institute and a Professor of Graduate School of Social Service Management, Japan College of Social Work)

· Recapitulation of last year’s Meeting (Dr. Daisuke Tanaka, Deputy director Office of International Cooperation, International Affairs Division, Minister’s Secretariat, MHLW)

· Country presentations (ASEAN countries)

· Welcome Reception (hosted by Taro Muraki, Assistant Minister for International Affairs, MHLW and Mr. Tatsuhiko Sakamoto, Chairman, Board of Directors, JICWELS)

Tuesday 1 September 2009

· Study visit (Yokohama Rehabilitation Center, Shin Yokohama Community Activity Home, Community Rehabilitation Center for Children with Disabilities of Eastern Yokohama, Kita Tsunashima Special Needs School)

Wednesday 2 September 2009

· Presentation “Overview of the ASEAN Cooperation on Children Welfare” (Dr. Donald Tambunan, Head of Social Welfare, Women, Labour and Migrant Workers Division, ASEAN Secretariat.)

· Presentation “Injury and disability prevention among children: to thrive as they survive” (Ms. Remedios Paulino, Technical Officer, Division of Building Healthy Communities and Populations)

· Presentation “Issues on children with disabilities in ASEAN in the light of the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)” (Ms. Aiko Akiyama, Social Affairs Officer Social Development Division, ESCAP)

· Presentation “JICA and Disability, Development and Inclusive Education” (Dr. Yoko Isobe, Associate Expert, Social Security Division, Higher Education and Social Security Group, Human Development Department, JICA)

· Group Discussion

Group 1:

“The collaborations between social welfare and health over children with disabilities”

Facilitator:

Japanese Representatives:

Group 2:

“The possibilities of international cooperation, and collaboration of ASEAN countries as it ought to be”

Facilitator:

Japanese Representatives:

· Pre-closing Party

Thursday 3 September 2009

· Report of Group Discussion

· Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations
- Remarks of the 7th Meeting (ASEAN Countries, ASEAN Secretariat, WHO/WPRO, Prof. Nakamura, Prof. Uemura, Prof. Nozaki)
- Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations (Dr. Teiji Takei, Director, Director, Office of International Cooperation, International Affairs Division, Minister’s Secretariat, MHLW)

· Closing Remarks (Dr. Masato Mugitani, Assistant Minister for Global Health, MHLW)

· The country report submitted to this meeting by each participant country is updated in the homepage of the Japan International Corporation of Welfare Services (JICWELS)

4. Outline of Discussion

In the keynote speech, Prof. Nakamura introduced the history of Japan’s progress during these 60 years on MCH and children with disabilities and Prof. Uemura introduced situation surrounding the children and people with disabilities in Japan. The ASEAN secretariat, WPRO, UNESCAP and JICA introduced their efforts for children and people with disabilities, respectively.

Participants shared information and experience with each other through their country presentations which described the current situation, good practices and challenges. Based on the information presented during this high level officials meeting, participants exchanged their views about their policies and services for health and social welfare for the children with disabilities between ASEAN member counties and Japan. The participants actively discussed common challenges and activities to address these challenges which they intend to pursue in the future at the national and regional levels in order to realize an inclusive society including health and social welfare services for children with disabilities. Agreements and Recommendations of this meeting are shown below.

<< Agreement >>
The participants agree the following;

· The proceedings and outcomes of this meeting on health and social welfare services for children with disabilities should report to the respective Ministers and other senior officials in each country.

· Japan with the support by ASEAN secretariat should report the proceedings and outcomes of this meeting to the ASEAN+3 Ministers meetings and SOMHD+3 and SOMSWD+3.

· This Meeting serves as a platform to follow-up decisions made by ASEAN+3 Ministerial Meetings and Senior Officials Meetings on health and social welfare sectors.

· Participation of children with disabilities in all relevant activities (eg. ASEAN Children Forum) should be ensured.

· It is ensured to focus on social model into implementation.

· Diversity of disabilities should be recognized /respected.

· International, regional instruments related to disabilities as well as children with disabilities should be complied.

· Face to face meetings with ASEAN member country and Japan to share information, knowledge and view of the matter are very effective to solve the problem on health and social welfare for children with disabilities.

· To realize the “inclusive society”, especially including children with disabilities, it is very important to understand the concept of “caring society.”

<< Recommendation >>
For future improvement of health and welfare services for children with disabilities (CWDs), the participants recommend;

【Regional】

· To promote sharing of best practices on CWDs and capacity building for practitioners and professionals in the technical, programmatic and financial management aspects (e.g. regional conferences, seminars and study visits);

· To use ASEAN Children’s Forum as platform to advocate and promote the direct participation of CWDs and organizations working on CWDs;

· To compile good practices/success stories on CWDs interventions, with implementation guidelines and checklist;

· To hold a capacity building workshop, using MCH handbook as one of the possible references, for senior officials to strengthen the data collection system (i.e. method, analysis and utilisation) on CWDs towards the development of national and regional databases on CWDs;

· To encourage more researches on CDWs including issues on causes and empowerment;

【National】

· To promote technical assistance as needed by specific Member States from other countries with more advanced experiences in addressing CWDs issues;

· To promote closer cross sectoral cooperation between ministries of health and of social welfare and other related lined ministries and to identify the focal point, through development of a national mechanism and framework;

· To incorporate CWDs in the national plan of action for children over a 5-year period;

· To promote preventive measures and early detection and intervention, especially the use of MCH handbook;

· To promote comprehensive approach in integrated trainings, bringing together doctors, medical specialist and social workers / welfare officers;

· To strengthen community-based approach of rehabilitation including by mobilizing volunteers, volunteer management and training programmes to ensure accessibility and encompassing services provided.

Finally, the participants reaffirmed that this High Level Officials Meeting is very fruitful and the participants also expressed their high expectations for its continuance and further development of this meeting. Themes for 2010 and 2011 are also reaffirmed as follows;
- 2010: Health and Welfare Services for Vulnerable People
- 2011: Human Resource Development in Welfare and Health

PDF Overall Summary(PDF:128KB)
PDF Overall Summary (ANNEX)(PDF:126KB)
PDF Overall Summary with photos
(1～5page)(PDF:446KB),(6～9page)(PDF:295KB),All(PDF:654KB)

Reference
(During the course of this meeting)

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan　(MHLW) held “East Asian Meeting of High-Level Officials on Caring Societies” annually from 1997 to 2002 in order to strengthen the regional cooperation among East Asian countries from the viewpoint of the idea of “World Welfare Plan” that Japan had advocated in the Lyons summit in 1996. Through these East Asian Meetings of High-Level Officials on Caring Societies, the MHLW contributed significantly to further strengthening cooperation in caring society fields in the East Asian region. On the basis of these success in conducting the East Asian Meetings of High-Level Officials on Caring Societies, the MHLW, since 2003, has also held the ASEAN & Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies and has invited high-level administrative officials who are in charge of health and social welfare policy from the ASEAN-10 countries to continue strengthening the development of human resources and to further promote collaborative relationships between the ASEAN countries and Japan.

During this period, ASEAN also began to examine the potential for further strengthening the cooperation between Japan, China, and South Korea in the health and welfare sectors, and the ASEAN+3 Health Ministers Meeting and the ASEAN+3 Ministerial Meeting on Social Welfare were instituted in 2004. So far, 1st ASEAN+3 Health Ministers meeting was held in Malaysia in April, 2004. The 2nd meeting was held in Myanmar in June, 2006, and the 3rd meeting is held in Philippines in October 2008, and the 4th meeting is scheduled to be held in Singapore in 2010.
Also, the 1st ASEAN+3 Ministerial Meeting on Social Welfare and Development was held in Thailand in December 2004 and 2nd meeting was held in Vietnam in December 2007, and 3rd meeting is scheduled to be held in Brunei Darussalam in 2010. The MHLW has been making consistent and significant contributions to the activities of these ASEAN+3 frameworks.

The themes of ASEAN & Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies are determined based on the proposals of the ASEAN countries and the ASEAN Secretariat and recommendations of the ASEAN+3 Health Minister’s Meeting and the ASEAN+3 Ministerial Meeting on Social Welfare etc. ASEAN & Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies have been implemented annually during the last four years since 2003. During the 1st stage covering the period from 2003 to 2006 the following main themes were set annually. These were “Human Resource Development for Social Welfare and Health Services” for 2003, “Development of Human Resources and Implications of Aging Societies” for 2004, “Health and Welfare Services for Children and People with Disabilities” in 2005, and “Support to Vulnerable People (Children and Women)” for 2006. During the 2nd stage starting with 2007 when the 5th Meeting was held, it focussed on “Community Services for the Elderly” under the main theme of “Collaboration of Social Welfare and Health Services and the Development of Human Resources and Community.” During this year (2009), the 7th Meeting was held. The number of participants from the ASEAN countries (from 2003 to 2009) who attended these meetings to date, now total to 244 government officials.

Additionally, these High Level Officials Meetings recognized as serving as a vital platform which supports the ASEAN+3 Health Minister’s Meetings and the ASEAN+3 Ministerial Meetings on Social Welfare among the ASEAN countries. In particular, relevant approaches for strengthening cooperation between different sectors including health and welfare sectors are operationalised, triggered by participation in these High Level Officials Meetings. The proceedings, discussions, and recommendations of the previous six High Level Official Meetings were reported to the above-mentioned ASEAN+3 Minister’s Meetings and ASEAN member countries expressed profound gratitude for this initiative by Japan and requested to continue these types of meetings and maintain the focus on the cooperation between health and welfare services. Furthermore, the proceedings, discussions, and recommendations of this year’s meeting are scheduled to be presented to the ASEAN+3 Senior Officials Meeting on Social Welfare and Development tentatively scheduled January 2010 in Singapore and ASEAN+3 Minister’s meetings held in 2010.

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