Human resource development for public health workers in Japan:A minireview

Abstract

Introduction Human resource development for Japanese public health workers was done together with the creation of a new country during the process of modernization after the Meiji Period (1868-1912). Since World War II, based on the public health introduced from the United States and the new Constitution, the foundation of human resource development for public health workers, that is, the former National Institute of Public Health trains senior professionals of municipalities, was made. Subsequently, with changes in the socio-economic situation, municipal public health workers are required to tackle new issues such as health crisis management and responding to changes in population structure and disease structure. In this paper, I give an overview the history and consider future issues, of human resource development for public health workers in Japan.