The health ministry plans to draft a law to make local governments design health promotion plans to prevent diseases related to smoking and other vices, ministry officials said Friday.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to submit the health promotion bill, as it is tentatively being called, to the Diet during the session that kicks off Jan. 21.
The law would promote information services regarding such health issues as the harmful effects of smoking and drinking. It would also call for standardizing data on health checkups conducted by local governments.
In addition, it would include nonbinding mandates to protect nonsmokers from cigarette smoke, including clearly designating smoking and nonsmoking sections in public places.
The ministry is drafting the law as part of its medical system reform plan in the belief that if it does not act, the number of people leading unhealthy lifestyles could add to the nation's already over-burdened medical insurance system.
The ministry decided to draft the law after local governments failed to respond to an earlier ministry proposal that they draw up health promotion plans to achieve quantitative targets on daily smoking, drinking and light exercise, the officials said.
The targets were proposed last year as part of a nine-point health project that prefectural and municipal governments were to include in their health plans. However, more than half of the local municipal governments failed to institute the program.