The Department of International Island and Community Medicine is newly established in 2002. Kagoshima Prefecture is located in the southern part of Japan and including 27 islands with around 190,000 population in 600 km distance. Such a situation requires special support in medical system, survive, health promotion and human resource recruitment of medical staffs. This department partially supports them, in terms of education of medical students and postgraduate students, epidemiological study in islands, and academic support in health promotion.