International Medical Forum for the General Public Diseases of Humankind: Diabetes and Periodontal Disease

March 08, 2009

Promoting closer cooperation among professionals in medicine, dentistry nutrition and diet

In collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Sunstar Foundation donated 120,000 toothbrushes to the Cape Verde government on December 11th, 2012. The goal of this donation was to improve oral health of the children of Cape Verde and consequently their quality of life.

Sunstar Foundation Director Mayumi Kaneda attended the official ceremony, which was led by Dr. Cristina Fontes Lima, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health, at the Dépôt de Médicaments (national medicine warehouse) in central Cape Verde.

This event was particularly significant as dental decay is found in 70% of the Cape Verde population. Therefore, promoting and maintaining oral health is a key to better quality of life. The 120,000 donated toothbrushes will be used in a nation-wide oral health support program that is to be launched by the Ministry of Education in 2013.

After the hand-over of the toothbrushes, students from Nova Assembeia school sang songs expressing their gratitude for the donation.

Here is the article of this donation published by the Ministry of Health of Cape Verde.
Click on the image below to view the news report of this event.

English translation of this article:
120,000 toothbrushes, donations offered by the Japanese foundation SUNSTAR
Praia, 11/12/12:

In the setting of partnership between the World Health Organization and Sunstar, a foundation which promotes oral health, Madame Mayumi Kaneda, Director of the Foundation, accompanied by the WHO representative Dr. Barrysson Andriamahefazafy, the official donation ceremony of 120,000 toothbrushes for the Cape Verde government took place today.

This symbolic hand-over ceremony was led by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health, Dr. Cristina Fontes Lima, aiming to aid the Cape Verdean children to improve their oral health and therefore their quality of life. We expect that this action will contribute greatly to implement a nation-wide oral health support program that the Ministry of Health is planning to launch in 2013. The program will also involve the Ministry of Education and the FICASE (Cape Verdean Foundation of School Health) in partnership with the Luxembourger Cooperation and the World Health Organization.

During the official ceremony, which took place at the Medicine Depot, the Minister declared that this supply of toothbrushes is more than a symbolic offer: given the links between HIV/AIDS and certain oral manifestations, and the recently available data indicating the existence of 70% of dental decay in Cape Verde. Dr. Cristina F. Lima also spoke on the importance of self-esteem, so that the children can grow up in good health. She said it is about an opportunity to work with partners (the WHO, the Luxembourger Cooperation and Sunstar) also at the research and education levels, to reorient the Office and to reinforce oral health prevention and promotion.

A symbolic hand-over ceremony of the toothbrushes was given short time later by the Minister of Education and Sports, Dr. Fernanda Marques, to the students of "Nova Assembeia" school, and the children sang some songs delivering messages of gratitude for this important contribution.

The Minister of Education spoke of the importance of reinforcing oral health in schools and on the partnership for implementing this project. It was also the occasion for Luxembourger Cooperation representative Madame Celeste Momteiro to launch a microcredit to support oral health.

During her stay of around three days in Cape Verde, the Director of Sunstar, accompanied by Dr. Teresa Morais, Coordinator of the health education program, and the WHO representative Dr. Barrysson Andriamahefazafy, and the FICASE technicians, has visited kindergartens on the island of Santiago as well as the Tarrafal Health Center, where a strategic plan for oral health in Cape Verde had been presented by Stomatologist Dr. Mario Luis Mendes.

The Sunstar Foundation for the promotion of oral health, created in 1977, aims to improve oral hygiene in the general population. For more than three decades, the Foundation has actively promoted oral health though different types of activities in different countries. We know that oral health is very important in people's lives. There are a lot of people who do not go to the dentist until the symptoms appear. As a result, dental problems that can be treated with low fees and in little time worsen. In addition, recent studies indicate a link between dental problems and systemic diseases. Thus, managing oral health is of a growing concern.

Carrying out a wide range of dental care activities can help achieve oral health and improve quality of life.
2008,04,21

Tokyo, April 21, 2008 - Sunstar will re-launch its English-language website on April 21, 2008. This renewed website aims to better inform users around the world about many key aspects of Sunstar as it is striving to further its growth and development as a global company. Sunstar expects this renewed website to become a powerful new communication tool. We hope it will also play the role of being a gateway to Sunstar's various local websites being run by Sunstar companies in different national settings.

On the new website's top page, color symbols that stand for the company's four distinctive business fields are arranged together next to the image of the globe. Moreover, by adding a flash animation feature, we have made accessing the site easier and friendlier.

The overall site design is accented using Sunstar's blue corporate color and features a simple page layout and concise explanatory text, all produced to highlight and enhance Sunstar's corporate image so that the company can deepen its relationship of trust with all of its customers.

In the near future, we expect that this renewed website will play an increasingly important part in further promoting Sunstar's corporate image, and it will motivate many viewers to click on the links to the websites of Sunstar's diverse group companies in the main world business regions.

Overall configuration of the site:
The contents are organized into three key parts: About Sunstar, Products and Global Network.

About Sunstar:
Through offering information about Sunstar's basic management philosophy, four distinctive business fields, highlights of the company's seven-decade history, careers, research-and-development activities and CSR policies, we aim to deepen understanding of Sunstar's role as a global company.

Products:
This section is devoted to explaining Sunstar's four distinctive business fields of Mouth & Body Care, Health & Beauty Care, Environment & Amenity and Safety Support & High Technology. It introduces the unique products that Sunstar is developing as global brands.

Global Network:
You will find contact information here for each of the Sunstar Group companies located in 17 countries in the world's four main business regions: The Americas, Europe, Asia (including China and Southeast Asia) and Japan.

We are committed to striving to maintain the high quality of this renewed Global Site and will keep upgrading its contents.

Change of URLs
The URL of the renewed version of the Global Site will be: www.sunstar.com.
With the start-up of this new global English-language website, the previously used URL for the Japanese-language site www.sunstar.com will be changed, as of April 21, 2008, to jp.sunstar.com.

Anticipating our long-term vision of establishing local websites in each country in which Sunstar Group companies are active, we identify the currently existing country sites in the sub-domain (for example, Japan will be: jp).

Those who wish to access the Japanese-language site should change the setting of their computers' Bookmarks, Favorites or any other related URLs.

After April 21, 2008, when you access www.sunstar.com, you will be able to select either the Japanese-language site or the renewed Global Site on its "Notice of URL Change" page.

We hope that you will find Sunstar's renewed Global Site a place to encounter interesting and useful information in English about many essential aspects of Sunstar.

Outline of the Sunstar Group
Sunstar was originally founded in 1932. The company began as a manufacturer and marketer of rubber adhesives for bicycles. Over the next few decades Sunstar expanded its operations to include the manufacture and marketing of a wide-range of oral-care, hair-care and skin-care products. Beginning in the 1960s, Sunstar further expanded its business to include the manufacture and marketing of sealants and adhesives for the construction and automotive industries and brake discs and sprockets for the motorcycle industry.

Sunstar is one of the Top Ten oral-care companies in the world and a world leader in the motorcycle parts business. Today, with its World Headquarters in Switzerland as a base, the Sunstar Group is carrying out and expanding its business activities in the world's four main business regions –. The Americas, Europe, Asia (including China and Southeast Asia) and Japan – by providing products and services to people in more than 90 countries around the world. Sunstar currently employs 3,500 employees worldwide.

In the financial year that ended on March 31, 2007, the Sunstar Group's total global sales reached CHF.1,170 million. The Sunstar Group currently operates in the following four business fields:
Mouth and Body Care 52% of total sales
Health and Beauty Care 11% of total sales
Environment & Amenity 13% of total sales
Safety Support & High Technology 24% of total sales

Press Contacts:
Public Relations Department
Tel: +81-3-5441-1423
Fax: +81-3-5441-8774

To more widely spread information to the general public about the linkages between diabetes and periodontal disease, Sunstar Foundation For Oral Health Promotion (Location: Takatsuki City, Osaka; Chairman: Hiroo Kaneda), in cooperation with Joslin Diabetes Center (Location, Boston, Massachusetts, President and CEO: Ranch C. Kimball), which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School, will hold an International Medical Forum, which is open to the general public. The theme of the Forum is "Diseases of Humankind: Diabetes and Periodontal Disease." Sunstar Inc. is sponsoring this Forum.

The number of Japanese with diabetes and at risk of developing diabetes has rapidly increased to reach 18.7 million in 2006, compared to 13.7 million in 1997. The cause of this enormous increase is thought to be that there has been a drastic change in recent years in lifestyle habits, particularly the change in dietary habits and nutritional intake that has come with the spread in popularity of Western-style food. However, it's not simply that the Western diet is causing the surge in diabetes, because different body types, influenced by genes, respond to the same food differently. The evidence is mounting that diet and nutrition may play a crucial role in the prevention and treatment of diabetes and periodontal disease.

Periodontal disease affects about 80% of Japanese adults. In the past few years, as a result of new research findings, periodontal disease has come to be considered as one of the complications of diabetes, and at the same time, it has been suggested that there is a possibility that periodontal disease has an adverse effect on diabetes.

In order to maintain good oral health and systemic health by preventing diabetes and periodontal disease, it is necessary that medical doctors, dentists, nutritionists and dietitians join together to work toward achieving better prevention and treatment of these diseases in cooperation with patients and the general public.

At this International Forum, world-famous specialists from Japan and U.S. will introduce the most advanced research findings and describe the present situation and future trends with regard to the best levels of care that can be provided by professionals in the fields of medicine, dentistry, nutrition and diet to promote the prevention and treatment of diabetes and periodontal disease.

This International Medical Forum will explore the linkages between these diseases not only from the perspectives of the participating world-famous researchers, but also from the perspectives of patients and families, particularly through the appearance of special guest Peggy Hayama, the famous Japanese popular singer, who took care of her husband, actor Jun Negishi, as he battled against diabetes.

The Forum will take place on April 18, 2009 from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the United Nations University, U Thant International Conference Hall in the Aoyama area of Tokyo.

For further information about the International Medical Forum, please contact the Sunstar Inc. PR Department at:
21st Floor, Shibakoen First Building 3-8-2 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0014, Japan
TEL: 03-5441-1423 (within Japan), 813-5441-1423 (outside of Japan)
FAX: 03-5441-8778 (within Japan), 813-5441-8778 (outside of Japan)

Outline of the International Medical Forum
Date:
April 18, 2009

Time:
1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Venue:
United Nations University, U Thant International Conference Hall 5-53-70 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925, Japan

Expected number of attendants:
300 people

Attendance fee:
Free

For inquires about how to attend, please contact:
International Medical Forum Secretariat
Tel: 03-5574-7510 (within Japan), 813-5574-7510 (outside of Japan)

Program for International Medical Forum
Opening:

The First Session:
Keynote lecture on "Diseases of Humankind: Diabetes and Periodontal Disease"
Masato Kasuga, Director General, Research Institute of the International Medical Center of Japan

The Second Session:
Three presentations on the "Frontlines in the Treatment of Diabetes and Periodontal Disease"

  1. "At the Frontiers of the Linkages between Diabetes and Nutrition"
    Dr. William C. Hsu, Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School
    Ms. Sophia Cheung, Joslin Diabetes Center
  2. "Caring for the Mind of Diabetic Patients"
    Hitoshi Ishii, Head of the Internal Medicine Endocrinology Dept. of Tenri Hospital
  3. "On the Frontline of Countermeasures to Prevent and Treat Periodontal Disease and Diabetic Complications"
    Toshihiko Nagata, Department Chairman, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Tokushima School of Dentistry
    Sadae Kajiwara, Senri Clinic, Sunstar Foundation for Oral Health Promotion

The Third Session:
Panel Discussion: "Disease of Humankind: Diabetes and Periodontal Disease"
Moderator: Masato Kasuga, Director General, Research Institute of the International Medical Center of Japan
Coordinator: Midori Miyazaki, Professor of Chiba University of Commerce, former NHK newscaster
Panelists: Robert J. Genco, Distinguished Professor of Oral Biology and Microbiology, State University of New York at Buffalo
Peggy Hayama, popular singer
Koichi Ito, President of the Japanese Society of Periodontology Professor of Nihon University School of Dentristry
Takashi Kadowaki, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Japan Diabetes Society and Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, the University of Tokyo
George L. King, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Head of the Section on Vascular Cell Biology and Research Director of the Joslin Diabetes Center
Session 1: Dangers of diabetes and its complications
Session 2: How to overcome the complications of diabetes and periodontal disease
Session 3: Japan and U.S. take up the challenge to promote closer cooperation among professionals in the fields of medicine, dentistry, nutrition and diet

Hosts:
Sunstar Foundation for Oral Health Promotion
Joslin Diabetes Center affiliated with Harvard Medical School

Cooperating institutions:
Japanese Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Japan Medical Association, Japan Dental Association, Japan Promotion Council for Diabetes Prevention and Countermeasures, 8020 Promotion Foundation, Tokyo Medical Association, Tokyo Dental Association, Tokyo Promotion Council for Diabetes Prevention and Countermeasures, Japan Diabetes Society, (NPO) Japanese Society of Periodontology, and Japan Association for Diabetes Care and Education

Co-sponsor:
Sunstar Inc.

* You can access the program of the Forum at the following website (Japanese only): www.imforum.skr.jp

For more information about the International Medical Forum, please contact the Sunstar Inc.: PR Department in Tokyo, Japan
TEL: 03-5441-1423 (within Japan), 813-5441-1423 (outside of Japan)
FAX: 03-5441-8778 (within Japan), 813-5441-8778 (outside of Japan)