CCRC/IP-Asia is a platform for sharing new ideas, exchanging information and getting around people with common interests. We have had a good crowd from East and West to discuss topics ranging from network infrastructure to media & disinformation to supply chains to information tracing, and much more. Here is the list of previous topics that we've discussed: https://www.ccrc.keio.ac.jp/cyber-ipasia/

We invited Professor Hiroki Nakatani, Project Professor at the Global Research Institute of Keio University and Invited Professor at Osaka University Post Graduate School of Medicine, to discuss the Information-Driven Public Health: from pandemic response to well-being in an aging society on Feb 22, 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a "clear and present danger" of our time. The virus has amplified weakness and resilience in each country and community. The pandemic in the interconnected world has demonstrated a health challenge quickly brings economic difficulties and even triggers national security concerns. Therefore, people's well-being is recognized as a national asset, and spending on health turned from consumption to investment. In this context, as symbolized in the IT use in COVID-19 response in many countries and areas, new public health is emerging. Professor Nakatani will share examples and challenges of the use of IT in disease prevention and control (in particular the infectious disease and non-communicable disease).

Professor Nakatani serves in various national and international organizations as Chair, Board of Directors, Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund); Senior-Advisor, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia(ERIA); Director, Hub on Population Ageing, Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU); Member, Board of Directors, National Center for Global Health and Medicine; and Director, Human Resource Strategy Center for Global Health. He is a veteran public health specialist for over 40 years, who started his career at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan. He worked extensively in the area of health policy, public health, international health, and health science and technology. His national career includes serving as Director-General of Health and Welfare Services in Hiroshima Prefecture, where he was in charge of integration of health and welfare services in preparation for the arrival of a rapidly ageing society. With regards to international career, he served the WHO Headquarters twice. From April 1988 to March 1993, he was Policy Analysist in the Department of Human Resource for Health. From March 2007 to May 2015, he served as Assistant Director-General of WHO, leading the largest technical cluster of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases. During his tenure, the morbidity and mortality of these three major infections showed trends of decline, and a few tropical diseases were on track towards elimination and even eradication (dracunculiasis or guinea worm disease). Dr. Nakatani received his MD from Keio University School of Medicine, MHPEd from the University of New South Wales, and PhD from Keio University.