Group-wide Initiatives to Tackle Dementia

In an effort to realize our management philosophy of contributing to the security, health, and wellbeing of our
customers and society as a whole by providing insurance and related services of the highest quality possible, we focus on social issues relating to
dementia and aim to build a society that strives to prevent dementia and enables people to continue living long and
happy lives with dignity as individuals, even after being diagnosed with dementia.
SOMPO Dementia Support Program
We are promoting the SOMPO Dementia Support Program throughout the Group under the slogan, “build a society that
strives to prepare for dementia and enables people to continue living long and happy lives with dignity as
individuals, even after being diagnosed with dementia.”
1. First in the Industry: Egao Wo Mamoru Dementia Insurance
In October 2018, Sompo Himawari Life launched Egao Wo Mamoru Dementia Insurance (Dementia Insurance for protecting
your smile), the industry’s first insurhealth product that guarantees mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
The company offers a full range of support to customers by helping them to delay the onset and progression of dementia, along
with responding to their nursing care needs. The services include the insurance functions that cover MCI and
dementia with one-time payment; cognitive function checks and other services that help prevent cognitive impairment;
a web-based service that provides basic information on dementia and dementia care; the SOMPO Egao Club dementia
support service; and Sompo Care nursing care services to support customers when such care is required.
2. First in Industry: Oyako No Chikara Insurance to Prevent Employees from Leaving the Workforce
In an effort to address the social issue that more and more people are leaving the workforce in order to provide
nursing care to aging parents, Sompo Japan became the first insurer to develop an insurance product, Oyako
No Chikara, which helps working (adult) children caring for their parents achieve a better balance between work and
family care responsibilities.
This product gives the insured party (adult children) with easy access to nursing care services while also providing
insurance that covers the cost of nursing care paid for by children.
3. Long-Term Care Services Offered by Sompo Care
We acquired Watami no Kaigo Co. in December 2015 and Message Co. in March 2016, and integrated them with our group
companies to form Sompo Care Inc. The company aims to serve customers in communities with a full range of high
quality nursing care services, ranging from at-home care to facility-based care.
We listen to users and provide care based on observations of their health and living environment so that people with
dementia can continue living with dignity as individuals. We aim to provide highly customized care, cooperating with
medical institutions to review drugs, alleviate physical pain, and improve nutritional status, while using digital
technology to grasp patient’s sleeping patterns, toilet habits, and other activities.
4. Total Support Service for Dementia, SOMPO Egao Club
In October 2018, Prime Assistance launched an online service that checks cognitive capabilities, helps prevent
cognitive decline, and provides basic knowledge on dementia and information on nursing care. This service can be
used incidental to Sompo Japan’s Oyako No Chikara and Sompo Himawari Life’s Egao Wo Mamoru Dementia Insurance.
In addition, some functions of the service are available to non-members since August 2020.
5. SOMPO Smile Aging Program for Effective Control of Cognitive Decline
In 2020, under the supervision of Professor Miia Kivipelto of the Karolinska Institutet, who led the FINGER study,* and the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, we developed the SOMPO Smile Aging Program, a program to help prevent cognitive decline by improving the lifestyle of older people. This program is the world’s first nationwide FINGER study social implementation program approved by Professor Kivipelto.
In the future, we aim to reduce the risk of developing dementia in Japan by rolling out the program throughout Japan.
- The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER), involving 1,260 older people, was the first in the world to prove that providing simultaneous multimodal intervention guidance on nutrition, exercise, cognitive training and lifestyle is effective in suppressing mild cognitive impairment.
A Japanese version of the study, the Japan-multimodal intervention trial for prevention of dementia (J-MINT) started in 2019. Sompo Holdings participates in the study as a co-research institute, aiming to create a dementia prevention service with a view to future social implementation.
Raising Awareness on Dementia
1. Train Dementia Supporters
Our Group is working to train dementia supporters to ensure correct understanding of dementia, and to watch out for
and support dementia patients and their families. The total number of dementia supporters and
Caravan-Mates* among Group employees, directors, and Sompo Japan agency employees had reached 21,321 by the end of March 2021.
- Caravan-Mates are certified lecturers of dementia supporter training seminars. To become a Caravan-Mate, one
must go through the requisite training and registration process.
2. Activities for World Alzheimer’s Day (September 21)
We held various events on World Alzheimer’s Day (September 21), which was jointly established by Alzheimer’s Disease
International and the World Health Organization.
(1) Transmission of a message to raise awareness of dementia from the Sompo Japan headquarters building
On September 21, 2020, World Alzheimer’s Day, the Sompo Japan headquarters building was lit up in orange, the color used to indicate awareness and support of dementia. We have been lighting up our headquarters building on this date every year since 2017.
(2) Seminar for thinking about dementia
In cooperation with the Alzheimer’s Association Japan and a number of companies and organizations that support the objectives of the seminar, we held a webinar on the topic of coexistence and prevention of dementia in the COVID-19 era on September 21, 2020, World Alzheimer's Day.
The number of participants far exceeded that of the previous year’s in-person event, with approximately 2,000 people logging in from all over the country.
3. Launch of Anna Konna (this and that) Website Full of Hints for Dementia Care
This website, which supports people providing dementia care at home, is operated by Sompo Care in the hope that our knowledge of nursing care will be useful to home nursing care providers. The website draws on the knowledge of frontline dementia care professionals to introduce lifehacks on how to apply wisdom and ingenuity when providing nursing care at home, in relation to all kinds of problems associated with caring for people with dementia.
The Anna Konna website was awarded the Good Design Award 2020.
The Anna Konna website
4. Sponsoring Activities to Deepen Understanding of Dementia
(1) Sompo Dementia Essay Competition
In fiscal year 2020, we ran a competition, asking for submissions of essays on the theme of “Living with dementia: A future where everyone can live a fulfilled life,” in the hope that dementia-friendly initiatives will take root throughout society.
The prize-winning entries were all thought-provoking essays portraying real-life stories that stemmed from the bonds and gratitude between people suffering from dementia and the people providing dementia care to support them.
(2)Sponsorship and participation in an event called "RUN TOMO”
From 2018, we sponsored an event called RUN TOMO, in which dementia sufferers and their families, supporters, and other members of the general public took part in a relay to complete a single task aiming for a goal. Group employees and directors participated in as runners.
- In 2020, the event was cancelled due to the spread of the COVID-19.
(3)Sponsorship of Nikkei Dementia Symposium
Since fiscal year 2019, we have been sponsoring the Nikkei Dementia Symposium, a multi-stakeholder event for industry, government, academia and citizens to discuss the current situation and issues relating to dementia, which is increasing in Japan’s “super-aging” society, from the perspective of those involved.
(4) Co-organized the forum to promote medical care for dementia
We jointly organized the forum to promote medical care for dementia, together with the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, with whom we entered into a comprehensive alliance agreement in fiscal year 2017. The forum held on February 7, 2021, took the form of a webinar on the subject of “dementia and COVID-19.”