Tatsuhiko Kubo

Dr. Tatsuhiko Kubo is a Professor of Department of Public Health and Health Policy at Hiroshima University. As a member of the Japan Disaster Relief Medical Team, he was dispatched to the Super Typhoon Yolanda relief mission to the Philippines in 2013. At a health cluster meeting during that mission, Dr. Kubo recommended to the Department of Health of the Philippines and the WHO that the international emergency medical teams (iEMTs) report their daily activity using the Philippine’s national Surveillance in Post Extreme Emergencies and Disasters (SPEED) form. Soon thereafter, all iEMTs started reporting using the SPEED form, becoming the standard of the national health information system.

Based on this lesson learned, Dr. Kubo later developed a Japanese version of SPEED (J-SPEED). Additionally, Dr. Kubo advocated that SPEED become the international standard and subsequently chaired the relevant working group of the WHO to develop the Emergency Medical Team Minimum Data Set (MDS). In February 2017, the WHO endorsed the MDS as new standard. He has supported activation of the EMT MDS in Japan 2019, 2020, and 2021; Mozambique (2019); Vanuatu (2020); Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine in 2022; Turkey and Malawi in 2023. He is also a principal investigator of the research project of the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare of Japan, which is to develop Public Health Emergency Operation Center in Japan.

Dr. Kubo’s other professional experiences include: Chair, WHO Emergency Medical Team Minimum Data Set Working Group; Director for Countermeasures (COVID-19), Health and Welfare Bureau, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan; Advisory Committee Member of the ASEAN ARCH Project; Leader of Public Health Module/EMT Initiative Corresponding Unit of the Japan Disaster Relief Medical Team, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); Registered Medical Doctor, Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan; and Core Member, Occupational Health Support Team for the Fukushima Daiichi Atomic Power Plant Accident, University of Occupational and Environmental Health.