The Japan Academy of Public Health Nursing (JAPHN), established as a voluntary group in 2012, was granted General Incorporated Association status in April 2015. Its membership has grown to nearly 2000.

Since the academy’s inception, we have steadily pursued our goals, and have achieved the following:
-development of formal definitions of public health nursing and the public health nurse;
-publication of Public Health Nursing: A Grand Design Toward Health and 100% Prevention for All (in anticipation of the framing of the 2035 Japan Health Care Vision);
-publication of the Systematic Overview of Public Health Nursing Science ;
-publication of our journal, three issues a year, in both paper and electronic formats;
-awarding of prizes for education and practice and for research;
-providing grants to encourage research by members;
-reviewing members’ research proposals to ensure that they are ethical, and granting them formal JAPHN IRB approval;
-dissemination of information about the latest public health research and international public health activities; and
-staging of the annual JAPHN academic meeting, which attracts more than 1,000 participants each year.

The current term (April 2020 – March 2022) began just when COVID-19 was spreading globally. Since infectious diseases are a core focus of public health nursing work, JAPHN is committed to taking stock of our experience, systematically examining the mandate of public health nursing practice and the role of the public health nurse, and disseminating the accumulated knowledge widely.

During this term, JAPHN will host its academic meeting (our ninth) online for the first time. Then, to mark our tenth anniversary, we will hold our tenth annual academic meeting jointly with the 6th Global Network of Public Health Nursing (GN-PHN) conference in Osaka. In the coming weeks and months we will be working hard on the planning and hosting of these large gatherings. At the same time, we are working to develop the JAPHN certification program, to be launched in the 2022 academic year.

JAPHN is noteworthy in that more than half of the members are public health practitioners. We will continue to expand our knowledge base, always anchoring our efforts on the three elements of the JAPHN’s vision: practice, education, and research. We are committed to contributing to the ongoing development of public health nursing. Your continued cooperation and support are greatly appreciated.

July 2020
Kiyomi Asahara
President
General Incorporated Association Japan Academy of Public Health Nursing