Countermeasures Against Heat Stroke Through Collaborations with Local Governments
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
| Publication date | March 17, 2021 (Posted on July 8, 2022) |
|---|---|
| Sector | Human Health |
Company Overview
Established in 1964, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was founded with the corporate philosophy of "Otsuka-people creating new products for better health worldwide" to create innovative products that contribute to the health of people around the world, and continues to develop business as a total health care company through its two main businesses, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical businesses, and aims to address curing diseases to improving everyday health by thinking about people’s health holistically.
Climate Change Impacts
Heat stroke accidents in sports activities have become a problem since the 1980s. As hot summers also became more frequent due to the heat island phenomenon caused by global warming and urbanization, the occurrence of heat stroke at outdoor workplaces and heat stroke fatalities among the senior citizens in daily life have increased, which has become a major social problem. With the progress of global warming and the aging of the population, the problem of heat stroke is expected to become even more serious in the close future.
Adaptation Initiatives
In 1991, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. began cooperating with the Japan Sport Association (formerly known as the Japan Amateur Sports Association) for our activities to prevent and learn about heat stroke, following the establishment of the Study Group for Prevention of Heat Disorders in Sports Activities.
Heat stroke can be prevented if appropriate preventive measures are taken, and while we conduct activities to raise individual awareness for schools and companies, we also conduct such activities nationwide by cooperating and collaborating with local governments in order to widely send out the information to the general public (*1).
As part of our activities, we created our original posters with local governments to raise awareness of heat stroke prevention (Fig. 1) and put them up at schools, public health centers, government agencies, sports facilities, supermarkets and drugstores. The posters call attention to heat stroke from places where people will be able to see in their everyday lives.
We are also working with local governments to build a system to deliver information on heat stroke to people in the community. For example, we provide school nurses and teachers involved in club activities with the opportunity to obtain qualifications for heat stroke control advisors. We support the certified teachers and students of the health committee so that they can conduct educational activities for measures against heat stroke within the school. In order to provide information proactively through school broadcasts and "health newsletters", we have provided CD audio sources for school broadcasts and videos that can be used in educational settings through the Board of Education.
This year, since the whole nation refrained from going out and stayed indoors for a long period of time due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there was the risk of "nesting heat stroke", which occurs when the season changes to summer while the body is not yet accustomed to the heat, so we actively provided information especially to the senior citizens. We also collaborated with the regional comprehensive support centers through the local governments to hold study sessions for their staff. We also worked on displaying local government cooperation posters and providing information during home visits
*1 Cooperation agreements were concluded with 47 prefectures and municipalities across Japan by 2019. The local governments and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. have been collaborating on solutions for health issues such as measures against heat stroke, disaster relief, food education, and prevention of lifestyle diseases, in order to maintain and promote the health of the citizens.
Effects / Expected Benefits
The number of schools engaged in our educational activities has increased due to the spread of information through the Board of Education. Approximately 4,000 heat stroke awareness CDs have been distributed to elementary, junior high, and high schools.
One million leaflets were distributed by the local governments through the regional comprehensive support centers to the senior citizens in order to raise awareness of “nesting heat stroke” (Fig. 2). Information is being provided to care managers, public health nurses, and social workers, with the aim of further establishing new routes to spread and circulate information.
