Takeuchi issop 2018

TAKEUCHI, Hajime, 2018. The Budapest Declaration of ISSOP 2017 - efforts to increase awareness in Japan. ISSOP2018 - Early Childhood Intervention: Science, Systems and Policies - Promoting Healthy Development of Vulnerable Children [online]. Oral presentation. Bonn, Germany. 29 September 2018. [Accessed 4 November 2018]. Available from: https://www.issop.org/cmdownloads/takeuchi-issop-2018/

Background: The Budapest Declaration - On the Rights, Health and Well-being of Children and Youth on the Move - was adopted at the Annual Meeting of ISSOP 2017. The declaration implies that child health professionals should stand up for refugee children. I will share my efforts to increase the awareness of the Declaration in Japan.

Method: I have approached several Japanese medical societies urging them to endorse the Declaration: Japanese Society for Social Medicine (JSSM); Society of Ambulatory and General Pediatrics of Japan (SAGPJ); and Japan Pediatric Society (JPS). In arguing for the urgency of a solution for refugee children globally I have connected to the Japanese challenge of internally displaced children by the Great East Japan Earthquake and related Fukushima Nuclear Disaster in 2011.

Results: JSSM endorsed the declaration January 21, 2018, an important step forward. One of the board members stated: “As Japan is located in East Asia and surrounded by the sea, our society has not yet played a role with regard to refugees and solidarity. This proposal is a good opportunity and it deserves appraisal”. The decision by the other organizations are pending.

Discussion: The child refugee situation is a global challenge that should leave no country uninvolved. Until now Japanese medical societies avoid political and social issues, and therefore endorsement