Japan's MHLW budget rises 2.6% to 21,476B yen

Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has raised its fiscal year 2006 draft budget 2.6% to 21,476.0 billion yen ($180.25 billion) compared to a year ago.

The disease management budget earmarked 22.7 billion yen for cancer, including 1.5 billion yen from a supplementary budget for fiscal 2006. The total figure represents a 51% increase compared to a year ago. The cancer funding was allocated to promoting the prevention and early detection of cancer (3.0 billion yen); standardizing of cancer treatment, educating cancer experts and the establishment of systems for collecting and providing information on cancer treatment (9.0 billion yen); and, promotion of cancer R&D of new medical technology for the disease (8.7 billion yen).

In the life-style diseases and preventative care areas, 142.2 billion yen was allocated. Among them, 107.4 billion yen and 9.8 billion yen were earmarked for preventative care and promoting countermeasures against metabolic syndrome, respectively. In addition, 198.4 billion yen was allocated for infectious diseases management including avian influenza, new and re-emerging infectious diseases, hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. Outlays for pharmaceuticals and medical device safety and fast-track provision will fall 6.1% to 10.8 billion yen, including 560.0 million yen for promoting the safe use of drugs, collecting data on the safety of new drugs in post-marketing studies and ensuring the supply of safe blood preparations.