Public Health Crisis Response Mechanism with Equal Stress on Construction of the Medical System and Cultivation of Public Awareness: A Case Study on Japan

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented worldwide shutdown, and made urban planning reflect on and discuss how to respond to public health crises. Japan's medical system has been repeatedly rated as the world's number one by the World Health Organization. This paper analyzes Japan's diversified medical facility system, its prevention and control mechanism regarding public health emergencies, and the cultivation of social public awareness, and points out that the Japanese public health crisis response mechanism is characterized by an equal emphasis on the construction of the medical system and the cultivation of public awareness. It is proposed that an effective way to respond to daily medical needs and irregular public health security crises is to improve the community medical quality and grant administrative power to the director of public health centers, promote the "urbanization of people" with public awareness, and improve the resilience of the medical and health system.