Abstract
Purpose: This special article summarized the symposium titled “Capacity building for health promotion: how to develop advocacy skills.” It was held by the 75th conference of Japanese Society of Public Health and co-hosted by the Japanese Society of Health Promotion and Education in Osaka on October 26, 2016.
Contents: Professor Jimba, the University of Tokyo, introduced a concept of advocacy and stated its importance for the capacity building in public health. Dr. Haruyama, Associate Professor of Dokkyo Medical University, suggested that support is necessary from academic organizations to develop advocacy skills among health professionals and researchers. Dr Nakamura, Japan Association for Development of Community Medicine, proposed a human resource development scheme through policy research in national institutes and government. Dr. Moriyama, State Minister of Justice, emphasized that academic organizations propose policy recommendations to influence administrative and legislative body of the government.
Conclusion: The academic organizations, such as Japanese Society of Public Health and the Japanese Society of Health Promotion and Education, should strengthen training for advocacy skills among researchers, professionals and practitioners in public health.
