Japan: Ministry Plans Free HIV Test at Hospital 2005

HLWM said Japan reported 976 HIV cases in 2003, a record high. And some AIDS patients died because of delays in detecting the disease. Last year, 87 people who donated blood tested HIV-positive, up from 34 in 1992.

While public health centers provide free, anonymous HIV tests, they typically do so only once a week in sessions lasting about two hours. Legal and health insurance administration problems block ordinary hospitals from providing HIV tests free and anonymously.

To bypass those difficulties, HLWM will allow the Japanese Red Cross Society to commission medical institutions to conduct the tests. Those who want an HIV test can be interviewed by blood donor facility doctors, who will refer the patient for testing at a designated medical institution. The Red Cross Society will pay about \7,000 ($64) for each free test. HLWM anticipates \200 million-\300 million ($1.8 million-$2.7 million) altogether to subsidize the tests.

Free public HIV testing peaked in Japan in 1992 at about 135,000, according to HLWM. Recent years have seen annual tests at 50,000-70,000. HLWM plans to pilot the program in Hokkaido , Tokyo and the Osaka Prefecture , and will expand the program if it proves successful.

According to the survey, 34 patients died of AIDS-related complications in 2003, 23 from Tokyo and five from the Osaka area. Of those patients, 30 were Japanese, three were foreign residents, and one person's nationality was unknown. The figure does not include AIDS patients who contracted the disease from contaminated blood. For the 29 who died within a year of HIV diagnosis, treatment did not work well because of severity of symptoms, medication side effects or other reasons.

Japan: A New Spin on Sex Education for a Sexier New Generation

Revisions to Japan 's sex education classes are being contemplated following the news that increased discussions about pregnancy and STDs have failed to stem annual increases in teenage abortions and STDs among youths. The Education, Science and Technology Ministry policy has been to teach pupils about physical changes to the male and female bodies, pregnancy, healthy gender concepts and family values. But today's children "know more, are freer with sex and are thus vulnerable to a host of sex-related problems, said Hirotaka Kujrigaoka of the Tokyo Board of Education.

Sex education, which begins in the third grade, has run into difficulties with parents who have protested the use of graphic material, the education ministry reported. Many conservative parents also argue that displaying condoms and other contraceptives in class is against Asian values and could promote early sexual activity.

Surveys indicate that Japanese girls now begin to menstruate at ages 10-12, at least two years earlier than their mothers. Of third-year high school students, 30 percent report they have experienced sex at least once, compared to two decades ago when sexual debut was most often at age 20. In 2002, almost 50,000 abortions were recorded among Japanese age 20 and below, compared to 27,838 in 1994. Youths ages 10-19 comprised 29.8 percent of new chlamydia cases reported in 2002.

While intercourse can only be discussed in high school, 70 percent of primary students are already aware of the topic, according to research by Dr. Masako Kihara, a teacher at Kyoto University and pioneer of Japanese sex education. She recommends conducting periodic school surveys to assess students' interest in sexual activity before developing a basic curriculum. A school nurse or counselor can then work with individual children to teach them based on their needs, she said.

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