Page 144 - 2019-安寧專刊

Congratulatory Message for the 20th Anniversary of the Taiwan Academy of Hospice Palliative Medicine
I wish to express my sincere congratulations to the Taiwan Academy of Hospice Palliative Medicine on the occasion of your 20th anniversary.
Over the past 20 years, Taiwan has achieved remarkable advances to become one of the leading countries for palliative care in Asia. For this impressive achievement, I sincerely honor the efforts of Prof. Enoch Lai and other founding members of the academy.
The age of 20 is of great significance for adults both in Taiwan and Japan. The physical functions necessary for human adulthood are well formed including brains that are perplexing, and curious with exceptional capacity for absorption, movement that is agile and responsive, and strong processing ability. Among these features, failure might still exist because of youth. Japan' s Palliative Medical Society is also in only its 24th year and thus of the same generation. As a society facing the same adolescent challenges, it is important that we continue to learn, share, and collaborate with each other in all aspects of research, education, and clinical practice around palliative end-of-life care.
Japan society is now aging at an unprecedented rate. In 2019, approximately 1.37 million people die annually, and this figure is estimated to reach 1.67 million by 2040. Improving the quality of end-of-life care has become a major issue in aging societies such as Japan, whether the care is for cancer or non-cancer diseases. This will be a major issue for many places in the world including Taiwan. At such a time, I am very moved that Taiwan has launched the Advance Care Planning Taipei Declaration and also that six countries including Taiwan and Japan continue their ongoing collaborative research into defining and developing such care planning using the Delphi method.
I hope this productive cooperation between the two countries will progress and continue into the future.
I would like to conclude my remarks by wishing your society many more successful years.
Yoshiyuki Kizawa, Designated Professor and Chair, Department of Palliative Medicine, Kobe University School of Medicine President, Japanese Society for Palliative Medicine Council Member, Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network
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Chapter 5
勉勵與祝福