ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has won the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Prize in the 2017 Award for Companies Promoting Cancer Control in the Action Plan for Promotion of Cancer Control as a project commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

The Action Plan for Promotion of Cancer Control is a national project aimed at increasing the ratio of people undergoing cancer screening in occupational health checkups for the early discovery and treatment of cancer. At present, approximate 2,500 businesses and organizations are providing support and cooperation in the action as promotion partners. Recently, companies implementing comprehensive anti-cancer measures were honored. Specifically, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Prize was awarded to one company and partner prizes to three companies.
This honor was awarded in recognition of activities such as individual cancer screening in collaboration with the National Cancer Center Japan for the employed at a certain age and older, support for balance between cancer care and work by a dedicated team consisting of the head of an organization, the industrial doctor and on-site human resources staff serving as support coordinators, and the distribution of the president’s own message of Never Surrender to Cancer for creating workplaces that allow employees to keep working without worry even after suffering from cancer. These activities are part of the Support Measure for Balancing Cancer Care and Work since August 2017.

In addition, as announced on February 26, 2018, ITOCHU won the 2017 award for excellence in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government awards commending companies implementing excellent initiatives to help cancer patients balance cancer treatment and work.

ITOCHU understands that its human resources are the most important management resources it has. It believes that health, the source of each employee’s best accomplishments, will lead to the strengthening of human resources that reflect the corporate message: I Am One with Infinite Missions.
ITOCHU will continue its efforts to achieve a work environment in which all employees, whether affected by illness or not, can work as energetically as possible without concern and fully demonstrate their abilities while maintaining motivation, becoming a company that takes on challenges and accomplishes worthwhile work, and is the strongest and best in Japan.