The "Healthy Akame!" community - government - university collaboration for health: a community-based participatory mixed-method approach to address health issue in rural Japan.

Background: Although Japan has a decentralized public health system, local governments have considered expert opinions over those of the community in decisions about public health programs. Differences in communities' interests may create gaps between health program objectives and implementation. We hypothesized that community-based participatory research (CBPR), which involves the community at every step, promotes effective program implementation and community empowerment.