Health promotion activities in Japan

In Japan, the spread of immunization and the development of antibiotics and antituberculosis drugs have dramatically decreased the mortality rate from infectious diseases since World War II. Alterations in health practices, such as decreasing the intake of salty foods and strict management of hypertension, have resulted in prominent decreases in the mortality rate from cerebrovascular diseases, especially from cerebral hemorrhage. However, we still have high death rates from malignant neoplasms and circulatory diseases, which may be partly prevented through improvement of health status. We discuss here about various health promotion activities recently reported in Japan, including prevention of smoking, promotion of exercise, improvement of nutrition, improvement of mental health status, and health risk appraisal. Finally we would like to stress the importance of comprehensive assessment of health status in order to encourage health promotion activities further.