Reason for Establishment of HPCJ

Hospice palliative care has its historical origins in European hospice care. In the second half of the twentieth century, it began to transcend national and cultural boundaries and spread throughout the world. Intended to improve the quality of life of patients facing life-threatening illnesses and to assist their families, it has developed as a form of care provided by teams of healthcare professionals and volunteers.
In May 1991, Japan entered the age of genuine, practical hospice palliative care when hospices and palliative care units throughout the country joined together and, for purposes of improving the quality of hospice palliative care and explaining and providing such care, founded The Japanese Association of Hospices and Palliative Care Units. Almost all of the hospices and palliative care units in Japan participated as members in this organization.
In July 2004, the Council’s name was changed to Hospice Palliative Care Japan. Among other reasons, this was because the Council’s palliative care teams that were operating in hospitals were recognized by health insurance, and because hospice palliative care had come to be provided not just in institutes but also as home care.
Thanks to HPCJ’s recent activities, the hospice palliative care that we provide in the future will not be limited to that for the final stages of malignant cancers and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), but will rather encompass all the care that patients with these diseases require, from the early stages at the time of diagnosis until the final stages; moreover, the scope of the care will extend to other life-threatening diseases besides malignant cancers and AIDS.
Thus, so that HPCJ can effectively improve the quality of life of people facing these various life-threatening diseases and of their families, we decided to establish, and to conduct our activities through, a nonprofit organization that would dedicate itself to broadly enlisting the cooperation of healthcare professionals and volunteers, to improving the quality of hospice palliative care, and to explaining and disseminating such care.
Through obtaining corporate status based on the Law to Promote Specified Nonprofit Activities, HPCJ aims to further expand its activities, cooperate with like-minded domestic and foreign organizations, promote the sound development of hospice palliative care inside Japan, and contribute to the healthcare, medical treatment and social services of the Japanese people.

July 15, 2007
Fumio Yamazaki, Establishment Representative
Hospice Palliative Care Japan, a Nonprofit Organization