Institute for Health Economics and Policy (IHEP)

IHEP is the research wing of ASIW. Its purpose is to promote research on the social insurance system and health economics in Japan. IHEP conducts empirical research and studies medical and long-term care services and various other matters using methods from economics and other fields aimed at contributing to the advancement and improvement of healthcare policies. The institute also gathers, stores, and disseminates information related to health economics to increase public awareness. IHEP also educates researchers who wish to specialize in this field.

For more information about its activities, please visit the IHEP website.
Institute for Health Economics and Policy

Health and Welfare Support Activities

ASIW carries out programs to train and produce effective long-term-care workers, and engages in investigative research and efforts to raise public awareness aimed at addressing the vital issue of training in long-term care to ensure a sufficient number of high-quality, skilled home-care workers.

1.Caregiver Training
　Courses for obtaining qualifications
　Seminars for administrators of home-visit long-term care businesses and service providers
　Training seminars on long-term care skills (end-of-life care, physical transfer/home helper skills, etc.)
2.Awareness Raising
　Publication of the Helpa! information magazine
3. Investigative Research

Please see the long-term-care worker support site Helpa! for more information on training and seminars.
To the Helpa! support site for long-term-care and welfare workers (Japanese only)

Health Food Research and Awareness Program

As social conditions have changed in recent years, people's awareness of health issues has been increasing. Along with this, attention to the role played by health foods is increasing, and a wide variety of products are being distributed on the market.

Japan is the first country in the world to systemize “Foods with Health Claims” as 2 lines of products; namely “Foods for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU)” and “Foods with Nutrient Functional Claims”. Following that, the market has been revitalized by the implementation of the ‘‘Foods with Function Claims'', which allows manufacturers to display functional claims based on scientific evidence.

To create products that are free from health hazards and are compatible with people's long and healthy lives, there is a need to further consider the functional labeling and quality control of health foods based on the latest scientific knowledge.
Under these circumstances, we would like to widely provide the information about the nature of health foods which are safe and functional with scientific evidence, are internationally consistent, and are supported by consumers.

We plan to hold forums and seminars to raise public awareness of health foods based on scientific evidence-based safety and functionality which are in harmony with international standards to obtain support from consumers.

1. Public awareness project (e.g. holding seminars)
2. Survey research project

For more details on these activities, please visit the health food research and awareness support website, Health Food Forum (Japanese only).
Health Food Research and Awareness Support Site　Health Food Forum

Housing Loan Management for Pensioners

In April 1977, the association began providing home loan financing for recipients of the government-managed pension for corporate employees. The system was in effect for 28 years until it was abolished in 2004, during which time over 280,000 individuals received financing. Since April 2001, ASIW has been conducting the management and collection of home loans as integration proceeds with 19 other similar public-interest corporations.

For more details on this program, please visit the Home Financing for Pensioners website.
For customers repaying loans Home Financing for Pensioners