International Health Co-operative Organisation

A sectoral organisation of the ICA

www.ica.coop/ihco

The Tokyo Declaration

The world health co-operative held its first international health co-operative forum since the foundation of IHCO. The 13 organizations affiliated with IHCO including APHCO that acts as the representatives of their 8 organizations affiliated to it and acting as the official coordinative of the Asia area for IHCO have supported the forum and feel engaged with their important work.
 We shared our experiences in each country and each area, and discussed about the common issues that the health co-operatives are being engaged in concerning health and the happiness of the people in the world. Throughout the discussion, we agreed upon both the adoption of the principles of ICA co-operative values as the most important criteria, and also about the setting of five agendas on the basis of the principles on the basis of their common style in day to-day work.

The first agenda is to tackle problem caused by poverty. This is not only an important agenda for developing countries but also for developed countries which have complicated agendas caused by the income difference and the social security withdrawal.
 We shall reform the social environment of child labor, insufficient education and poor livelihoods caused by poverty and achieve an affluent society. The individual world health co-operatives should contribute to its regional society for the overcoming of sickness and improvement of health by removing poverty.

 The second agenda is to pursue peace. We recognize in common that war and violence are a threat to people’s healthy living. The world health co-operatives object to any country involved in war and rather supports activities pursuing to achieve world peace.

 The third agenda is to tackle environmental problems, notably the gases that cause green house effect. The emission of these gases causes global warming and brings about extraordinary weather, damages to the farming and fisheries, natural calamities threatening people’s lives. The world co-operatives respect the spirit of “Kyoto protocol” and deal with the environmental problems by setting goals.

The forth agenda is to deal with the creating healthy community. It is important to develop a friendly-neighborhood community for the senior citizens. The aging of population has rapidly increased in these years. The world health co-operatives actively deal with the “age friendly cities” advocated by the WHO. Also, members in the each local community work together voluntarily to resolve problems related to aging.

 The fifth agenda is the training and interchange of work force. Training of workers is the most important agendas for the development of health co-operative by sharing skills and expertise with all actors to obtain a common knowledge base, achieved by all and the use of all. The world co-operatives should actively interchange communication with the members, medical specialists, medical students and nurse students. We have to attract young workers to health co-operatives.

We, declare, 5 years from now, we will engage in these five agendas by setting goals and action programs in each country and area, and that we contribute to the health and happiness of the people in the world. And in 5 years, we will assemble again for the confirmation of the achievement and making a new initiative for further progress.

22 October 2007