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Special Supplements / Hiroshima G7 Summit Special
May 19, 2023

Japan remains keen supporter of universal health care

When the Spanish flu flared up just over a century ago, it claimed at least 50 million lives worldwide at a time when influenza vaccines were undeveloped and other treatments were ineffective. Society fragmented as people lost trust in government institutions and national health care services, which...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 1, 2022

New infectious threats are coming. The U.S. probably won’t contain them.

The coronavirus revealed flaws in the nation's pandemic plans. The spread of monkeypox shows that the problems remain deeply entrenched.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Perspectives
Nov 8, 2021

What Japan needs to change to better prepare for the next pandemic

COVID-19 won't be the last deadly contagion to strike Japan. Here are six things the government can do right now to ensure it can respond better when the next crisis strikes.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 31, 2020

25 days that changed the world: How COVID-19 slipped China’s grasp

China's delayed initial response unleashed the virus on the world and foreshadowed battles between scientists and political leaders that would play out across continents.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2020

COVID-19: Nobody is safe until everyone is safe

A recent study projected that unequal global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines could cost the world economy up to $1.2 trillion.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2019

G20 in Osaka offers chance for health and financial policymakers to stop fighting and join hands

To effectively tackle global health issues it's crucial that the Group of 20 nations use their June summit to overcome the barriers that have traditionally separated health experts and policymakers from financial and economic leaders.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Jul 31, 2018

Time to empower Japan's chief medical officer

Japan needs a Cabinet-level official who can inform national efforts to create best practices for addressing key health concerns.
Take any scientific issue that involves political choices, from public health to climate change, all sides claim to be basing their concerns on science.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2024

Let’s stop insulting each other as ‘anti-science’

Take any scientific issue that involves political choices, from public health to climate change, all sides claim to be basing their concerns in science.
Orphans and children separated from their parents in Kadugli gather to eat boiled leaves at a camp within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North controlled area in Boram County, Sudan, on June 22, 2024.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 4, 2025

Millions of malnourished children face lifelong health woes

Famines and other food crises can leave an entire generation with physical and cognitive deficits, experts warn.
A member of a medical team takes a patient's blood pressure during an HIV clinic day in Kampala, Uganda, on Feb. 17.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Trump’s foreign aid retreat guts funding for HIV treatments

The withdrawal is risking lives globally and threatening to unravel decades of progress made toward ending AIDS as a public health threat.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 4, 2023

Kishida confirms plan to merge My Number and health insurance card

Kishida apologized for the anxiety caused by recent errors and announced a series of steps in the hope of restoring public trust.
Demonstrators protest against a government plan to increase the number of seats at medical schools in Seoul in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 8, 2024

Deaths amid doctor shortage fuel election angst in South Korea

A critical lack of doctors in South Korea has led to thousands of deaths as President Yoon Suk-yeol works to address the problem.  
By April 2024, dengue fever cases in the Americas passed the total for the previous year.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 15, 2024

What's behind the post-COVID surge in communicable diseases?

Many regions have reported at least one infectious disease resurgence that’s at least ten times worse than the prepandemic baseline.
A Palestinian girl walks near a puddle of wastewater and piles of garbage and debris amid the spread of skin infections in the northern Gaza Strip on Aug. 5.
WORLD
Sep 11, 2024

Sickness a 'death sentence' in Gaza with a health care system in ruins

"We have no medical system," a general practitioner with the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza said.
A 13-year-old junior high school student receives a vaccine for the human papillomavirus at a hospital in Tokyo in 2022.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 27, 2024

Deadline approaches for free HPV vaccine 'catch-up' campaign

The government's free vaccination program requires the first dose to be administered by the end of September to complete the three-dose series before the campaign ends.
Community leaders discuss the role of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in ending the HIV/AIDS threat to public health by 2030 at a seminar hosted by Gilead Sciences in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 1, 2024

HIV prevention drug remains out of reach for many in Japan despite approval

The drug's high cost together with insufficient knowledge and awareness are hindering efforts to broaden access to it, experts and community leaders say.
Electric candles at a memorial service for those who died from AIDS on the sidelines of the Japanese Society for AIDS Research conference on Thursday
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 29, 2024

Ahead of World AIDS Day, advocates call for an end to HIV stigma in Japan

While cases are relatively low in Japan, experts and stakeholders say the stigma often attached to patients needs to be addressed.
Japan is the world's biggest market for Iqos, a heat-not-burn tobacco product marketed by its maker Philip Morris as a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes — a claim not backed by independent scientific research.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 6, 2025

Smoke and mirrors: How big tobacco manipulates science in Japan

In Japan, not only does the tobacco industry have close ties to government, but universities are also vulnerable to its influence. In this equation, public health loses out.
Novak Djokovic plays a forehand return to Italy's Jannik Sinner during their men's singles semifinal match on day 13 of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 6, 2025.
TENNIS
Jun 11, 2025

No rest, no gain: Novak Djokovic’s go-to tools for a mind and body reset

Japan residents with deep pockets now have a chance to replicate Djokovic’s wellness and longevity routines at Aman Tokyo.
A breakthrough HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir, offers hope to end the epidemic, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s cuts to global health funding threaten access and rollout, especially in Africa where prevention efforts are already strained.  
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2025

When an HIV scientific breakthrough isn’t enough

Trump administration funding cuts and dismantling of USAID force a shift from HIV elimination back to treatment.
Elizabeth Kutschke at the park with her son Ben, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2023

When a $2 million gene therapy is not enough

Ben is one of a growing number of patients with spinal muscular atrophy whose doctors are turning to additional drugs in addition to gene therapy.
A vial of the Moderna COVID-19 booster vaccine targeting BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants. Japan will roll out an updated version targeting the XBB variant on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Sep 19, 2023

Japan to begin COVID vaccine drive targeting XBB subvariant

The free shots will be offered until March next year to prepare residents for an expected uptick in infections during the winter.
When COVID-19 first emerged, companies across the health care industry raced to reconfigure themselves. That transformation is now unraveling.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2023

Life after COVID turns rocky for reshaped health care businesses

When the coronavirus first emerged, companies across the health care industry raced to reconfigure themselves. That transformation is now unraveling.
Jesse Ehrenfeld, the board chairman of the American Medical Association, in Chicago in 2019. The F.D.A. has approved many new programs that use artificial intelligence, but doctors are skeptical that the tools really improve care or are backed by solid research.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 1, 2023

Doctors wrestle with AI in patient care, citing lax oversight

Are AI programs likely to identify something a doctor would miss?
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 27, 2024

Concerns mount after two deaths linked to Kobayashi Pharma supplement

A government probe is being conducted to establish whether the supplement, which contains beni kо̄ji red fermented rice, led to the deaths.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Tokyo office. An investigation into the cause of the health issues is underway, with partner companies attempting to recall products that could include the batch of beni kōji said to have caused kidney problems.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2024

Kobayashi Pharma's wide supply chain complicates search for tainted products

Looking at the overall market, one study showed that around 33,000 companies have sold and distributed products using the firm's red yeast rice.
Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Akihiro Kobayashi (right) and Satoshi Yamane, the new president, bow in apology over health problems caused by its beni kōji products, during a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 8, 2024

Kobayashi Pharma to withdraw from beni kōji product segment

The firm said it would offer compensation to those who suffered health problems linked to their products and prevent a recurrence of the incident.
Too many people die from treatable diseases in places with little access to health care. To prevent this from happening, affordability, availability and acceptability considerations must be at the core of medical products' lifecycles, starting with R & D.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2025

To stop preventable deaths, start with the fundamentals

Treatable diseases like malaria are still causing too many deaths in places with poor health care. To prevent these, accessibility must be baked into medical development.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025

Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry

Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new plan to restrict updated COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups has sparked confusion and criticism, with experts warning it could limit public access and bypass established advisory channels.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025

The FDA’s new COVID-19 vaccine policy is clear as mud

The U.S. health agency's promises of transparency and choice for COVID-19 vaccines fall short in its first big test. 

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear