Farm life and rural medicine in 21st century.

Abstract

When the present circumstances surrounding agriculture is looked at worldwide, several factors that may aggravate the situation further in the 21th century and endanger human well-being and health immediately arrest our attention.First, the upsurge of world population. Can we increase food supply keeping up with a rapid rate of growth of population?Second, there are environmental threats. The arrival of “nuclear winter” would inevitably endanger the very existence of human beings. We must make every endeavor to ward off the danger of nuclear war. However, nuclear weapons are not the only culprit that threatens to destruct the global environment. Already deterioration in the quality of our natural surroundings is progressing at a steadfast pace. To be noted is the fact that the environmental decay mostly accrues from the advance of material civilization. The depletion of ozone layer, greenhouse effect and deforestation are among the symptoms that manifest themselves in the environment of our only Earth.These two problems-population growth vs. food and environmental destruction-weigh heavily on humankind. We must grapple with these problems in earnest to find solutions through international collaboration.The 21st century will be a period for agriculture and all-out effort must be bent to secure the fundamentals for the survival of human race.Rural medicine is a branch of medicine with the object of protecting the health of and curing the diseases of farmers and residents in rural areas. Rural medicine will gain in importance in the 21st century, as it is the century for agriculture. As a medical discipline, rural medicine will be expected to make advances in a direction different from what it is today.Medicine in Japan was developed into modern medicine with the nation's assimilation of Western civilization which was introduced after the Meiji Restoration of 1867. Before that, herb medicine originating in China was predominant. Medical colleges have ever since played a significant role in pushing forward research and development in medicine as well as sending graduates into society.In other words, Japan's medical care has progressed on the basis of the so-called top-down system. Real progress in medicine by nature is made on the basis of knowledge gained in clinical practice rather than in laboratories.In this respect, Japan's rural medicine originated in part of the agricultural cooperative union movement. The founders and initial members of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine began work to protect the health and human rights of the inhabitants in a village where living conditions are characterized by poverty, overwork and poor sanitation. We are proud of their devotion to helping medically and socially deprived people to become aware of their health, thus advancing and ideal of medicine.Radical changes which have taken place in rural areas during the past years may seem to suggest that rural medicine has lost ground. On the contrary, there are plenty of tasks to be done-care and welfare of the aged, education and health of children, dietary habits, nutrition etc. Furthermore, Japan's rural medicine is expected to serve not only the rural population in this nation but also the peoples of foreign countries. I sincerely hope that every one of you who belong to the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine will assume a more active role in advanchng the cause of rural medicine and contributing to the welfare and health of people around the globe.