[Report] HGPI Online Seminar: "Implementing CKD Countermeasures: Data-Driven Health Systems"

The Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) hosted an online seminar titled "Implementing CKD Countermeasures: Data-Driven Health Systems" on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Professor Shingo Fukuma, an advisory board member and research fellow for the HGPI Kidney Disease Project, delivered a lecture on the necessary perspectives and policy directions for the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) sector. Drawing on the results of the 2025 fiscal year project, he discussed the current state of systems from health checkups to treatment, as well as challenges identified through big data analysis. While Japan is establishing mechanisms for early CKD detection, a significant "care cascade" issue remains, where only about 3% of patients identified with kidney function abnormalities actually visit a medical institution. Professor Fukuma argued that the cause of non-attendance is not an individual issue, but a structural one lacking a "design for connection" between screening and treatment. Experiments using behavioral science-based notifications improved consultation rates by approximately 4 percentage points. Moving forward, he emphasized the need to build a system based on the "Learning Health System" concept, which continuously cycles through data-driven problem identification, intervention, evaluation, and improvement. The seminar video is available on the HGPI website.