How well has Japan's healthcare system responded to its multicultural society during the COVID-19 outbreak?

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18457
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 8:Sociology and related fields
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Ogasawara Rie 大阪大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 特任講師(常勤) (70814375)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: マイノリティ・ヘルス / 新型コロナウィルス感染症（COVID-19） / 多文化社会 / オンライン調査

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to clarify how COVID-19 has affected foreign residents' access to medical care in Japan and how well the Japanese healthcare system has been able to respond to this issue by conducting an online survey in six languages (Japanese, English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Vietnamese) targeting foreign residents across Japan. A total of 427 responses were obtained in the online survey. The survey revealed, for example, that COVID-19 made it more difficult for foreign residents to receive medical care, that they felt discrimination and prejudice more strongly because they were foreigners, and that the vaccination rate among foreign residents was higher than the average rate among Japanese. I hope to utilize the results of this study to contribute to the development of a more resilient healthcare system in the future.

Free Research Field

医療社会学、グローバルヘルス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

COVID-19世界的パンデミック下、人権意識の高い欧米先進国でさえ都市封鎖、外出禁止令、国境封鎖を敢行し、国際的なヒトとモノの流れが止まるとともに、経済・健康格差がさらに浮き彫りになった。COVID-19によって、世界中の人びとの健康は医学的視点のみならず人文社会学的視点を交えた医療社会学的見地から、社会全体の問題として見つめ直すことの重要性が再認識できた。本研究が医療社会学の見地で実施された点には一つの学術的意義があると考える。さらに、世界の模範とされてきた日本の保健医療制度を、マイノリティ住民の視点を通して批判的に見直すことに挑戦している点にも、本研究の大きな意義があると考える。