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AIDS and other STDs on rise in Japan

ArmandV

Eight Times To Japan
Contributor
18 Oct 2004
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From the Washington Post:

TOKYO -- A rapid spread of AIDS over the past decade has reached a level that has confounded and alarmed the health establishment in Japan, a country that has long felt protected by a first-rate health system and widespread condom use.

Infections which had stayed at infinitesimal levels are surging at rates similar to developing countries, and some experts say the real number of Japanese with HIV or AIDS is two to four times the official toll.

Many also fear a silent AIDS epidemic is brewing among the nation's sexually active middle- and high-schoolers. Other sexually transmitted diseases _ chlamydia, genital herpes, gonorrhea and the human papillomavirus, or HPV _ are also on the rise.

"Japan is on the brink of going under," says Dr. Tsuneo Akaeda, a gynecologist who raises AIDS awareness by offering free 15-minute blood tests in Tokyo's nightclubs and streets. "They're ignoring that they have diseases, they're ignoring that they are sick."

The official toll of 10,070 HIV/AIDS sufferers in a nation of 127 million people pales next to some countries. Even if the actual figure is closer to 40,000, that would mean roughly 1 in 3,000 are infected, compared to about 1 in 100 in Thailand or 1 in 1,500 in China, according to estimates by UNAIDS, the U.N. body waging the global war on AIDS.

But many in Japan are alarmed at the dangerous mixture of chronic underreporting of cases, a sexually freewheeling youth culture that's less inclined to use condoms or other protection, and the powerful social stigma of a sexually transmitted disease.
 
Been Around A While In Japan.

I remember my roommate in Fukuoka (Navy) Ben; his med folder when he shipped out had 38 slips for clap. I remember being amazed he could catch it that many times in just 2 years. It seemed every military base had a bar town and bar girls near by loaded with STD's. I'm happy to say I lucked out and never had a problem in my 2 years.

Frank

😊
 
I don't think they have good sexual education at Japanese schools. They didn't when I was there; I can't tell how much it has progressed in 10~15 years.

It seems like they are in need of serious change.
 
Misa, can i know what the teach you then? sex is BAD? or how to do sex with condoms, i heard condoms are pretty bad in Japan? and the conseption pill is pretty expensive ( baby's)

and when do they learn it? is that when they are 16? or earlyer?

in my country, there are talkings going on, to have sexual education on an age of 8-10 for me that is just way to early, but some people think it is nessacery,, because the first time of sex is going down from 17 to 16..

as i just saw a program about S-africa, and there aids program, i just dont understand why goverments dont give good education in it... to bad japan ignore the problem... is it me or does japan ignore more things?? sorry...
 
I have run into the whole "I absolutely refuse to get tested despite my somewhat risky past behaviour that included prostitution" mindset with Japanese women. Why is it bad to get tested? Morons ...
 
cicatriz esp said:
I have run into the whole "I absolutely refuse to get tested despite my somewhat risky past behaviour that included prostitution" mindset with Japanese women. Why is it bad to get tested? Morons ...


True. Some people are just scared to find out if they actually do have the HIV virus. "Ignorance is bliss," eh?
 
dutch baka said:
Misa, can i know what the teach you then? sex is BAD? or how to do sex with condoms, i heard condoms are pretty bad in Japan? and the conseption pill is pretty expensive ( baby's)
The only sex-ed I remember receiving in middle and high school is watching a slide about the growth and anatomy of sexual organs, which the boys didn't get to watch, and vague and dull explanation by the gym teachers. They didn't teach anything about how to use condoms, birth control pills or STDs.

ArmandV said:
Some people are just scared to find out if they actually do have the HIV virus. "Ignorance is bliss," eh?
That, and many of them might be concerned about confidentiality.
 
misa.j said:
That, and many of them might be concerned about confidentiality.
True. Seems like patient/doctor confidentiality isn't a big thing in Japan.

May also be the idea that getting tested is somehow a sign that you're a '****'. Would jive with girls I've met or heard off that refuse to take the pill or let their guyfriend use a condom because it means they are 'easy'.
 
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