Problem of HIV/AIDS in Japan in 21st Century: Causes, Effects, Solutions - Essay Example

? The Problem of HIV/AIDS in Japan in 21st Century: Causes, Effects, Solutions The Problem of HIV/AIDS in Japan in 21st Century: Causes, Effects, Solutions Introduction The objective of the paper is to highlight the continuous growth in the prevalence of HIV AIDS in the Asian countries especially in Japan. The paper analyzes the causes, effects and the proper remedies to this worldwide epidemic. The different drivers leading to the spreading of this fatal disease is described in the paper including different economic and social problems. The paper will also focus on the responses taken by the government of Japan and the further amendments which are needed to be done to fight against this epidemic more effectively. HIV- A fatal disease HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus responsible for causing AIDS. AIDS is an abbreviation for AcquiredImmuneDeficiency Syndrome which is generally transmitted through unsafe sexual contacts, the breast milk of an infected person and blood. The virus affects our immune system weakening it to the point that it becomes to fight the different kind of infections attacking our body daily. These diseases are known as opportunistic diseases. A blood test can easily detect the virus in the body. It is not necessary that an HIV positive person is affected by AIDS as well. A physician detects the AIDS based upon the CDC AIDS Case definition. History of AIDS in Japan The history of AIDS in Japan dates its beginning in 1983 though it is still not clear that who the first patient was. The case detected was blood which is also responsible for making the maximum number of AIDS victim so far and is considered as the most vulnerable cause. Three female heterosexual patients were detected AIDS positive in 1986 and 1987.However, it was difficult for AIDS affected people to come out in public and say that they had the HIV virus. Akase Moriyasu, an HIV positive activist came out in 1988 for an interview with NHK. He said: “ I’ll just be pleased if you show me as an ordinary old man with hemophilia, an old tier who contracted HIV and is having fun despite his disability. I’d my friends to have courage and spend their time in a meaningful way. It’s okay to worry and it’s okay to think about all sorts of things, but time marches on, no matter how much you worry.”(Feldman 26). A scandal by the name of Japanese HIV-tainted blood scandal also saw its activation in 1980s when HIV was contracted in one to two thousand Japanese patients by the tainted blood products. Controversy was created due to the continuous use of non – treated blood products after the development of heat treatments which prevented the infections. Patients also went to the court to complain against the pharmaceutical companies like Green Cross who sold infected blood products. The court battle continued till 1996 with the declaration of three Green Cross officials guilty. Many myths were associated with this disease as well such as it’s a foreign disease and will affect to only certain people especially gay and prostitutes or that one can only catch it in other countries. These myths still continue today no matter how baseless they are. However the Japanese need to realize that the population is equally at the risk of infection here at home as well. According to a data, &) percent of Japanese women and men, in the year 1985 and 1999, with HIV had caught the virus within the country itself. Today, though there is no accurate number of the affected people, it is certain that it is continuously increasing with the rapid growth in the population. Causes of AIDS It is already mentioned that HIV is the main cause of this fatal disease. However, the main reason behind the conversion of this disease into an epidemic not only in Japan but in the whole world is that many people who have the virus in their body do not get it tested believing that they are not at risk. Less do they realize that they can get affected by the virus during an intimate contact. Some of the other common causes of AIDS are: introduction of infected blood in the body, use of infected needles, multiple sex partners, infected mother to her baby through the placenta, injectable drug abuses, unsafe intimate contacts etc. The virus is present in the sexual fluid and the entry of infected fluid in the body can cause the disease easily. Lack of awareness among the ever growing Japanese population is also responsible to a great extent. The use of contraceptives such as condoms and other such devices is till needs to be popularized within the masses. If a man with HIV has vaginal intercourse without using a condom is most likely to pass the infected fluid in the body of the female through a tiny cut or sore which then spreads in the whole body with the blood stream. The contact of blood during sex increases the risk of infection largely. HIV mainly destroys the white blood cells of the body causing progressive immunodeficiency. According to an estimate of 2003, approximately 20,000 people are affected by AIDS in Japan. A very little attention is given to this epidemic as a serious public issue.Statistics show a continuous and steady increase in the growth of the epidemic. Some of the other major causes are: 1. Changes in the sexual behavior of the young people. 2. Increase in the migration across the national borders. 3. Continuing delays in the early identification of the disease due to improper availability of testing and counselling in the country. The largest share of the HIV affected population is covered by the young people generally in their twenties and the spread of the HIV within this age group points towards the decreasing work force of the country. 57 percent of the reported cases are mainly clustered in Tokyo and other metropolitan cities such as Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitam. 70 percent of the total affected people were males. Percentage for females is comparatively low i.e. 85.9 per cent. Like all the other countries, Japan also has a group of vulnerable people which are at a higher risk compared to the rest. Among them men who have sex with men are considered to be the most vulnerable ones. Migrant workers who are generally unregistered non – Japanese nationals without any legal status are considered at risk as well although their number is very less. The situation of sex workers across the country and the injecting drug users are yet to be completely analyzed though they form a major part of this vulnerable group. The sex industry has continued to diversify in Japan since the 1980s. However, the use of condoms has yet not become a general practice among the people associated with this. Many Asian women from neighboring countries have also entered this industry and are at a higher risk due to their engagement in higher risk practices(Ramseyer, p. 112). Japan’s responses Since majority of the patients affected by HIV are MSMs, it is rather difficult for them to come out publicly and admit their problems publicly. Two categories of AIDS patients have been classified namely “good and bad AIDS” where the people victimized by HIV infected blood products are considered innocent and the people who got the disease through sexual fluids are considered as guilty and are liable for punishments. However, efforts are being made to bring together all the HIV infected patients and to provide them proper support regardless of the mode of infection. Lack of sufficient knowledge is also a problem. In schools, the subject of AIDS tends to be taught as a human rights issue rather than as a sexually transmissible infection. This has led to the permeation of some basic knowledge about AIDS such as it is not transmitted through handshakes or sharing eating utensils. Few are aware that having sexually transmitted disease such as Chlamydia can increase the risk of acquiring and transmitting the disease. A public opinion survey in 2000 forwarded the beliefs of 84 percent of the people the HIV affected should not be discriminated against or treated differently. 59 per cent claimed that they will not treat their friends differently even if they HIV positive. On the contrary, still many cases are reported in the country by the media and litigation that hoe unfair the actual treatment is(Nemoto, p.36). Yet this issue is not a mainstream agenda in the country. There is no comprehensive national policy on HIV/AIDS, just a separate measure being pursued in dependency of each other on domestic and foreign policy areas. Ministries of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) set the policies for domestic HIV/AIDS. The annual budget measures to ?11.3 billion for fiscal year 2003, a level which has been maintained for the past few years. Still the public prevention measures are lagging behind in some way or the other. The government is concentrating on increasing the awareness among MSM as the sexual transmission of the disease is increasing by leaps and bounds. Japanese Foundation of AIDS Prevention (JFAP), established in 1987, is liable to perform the actual measures against the disease. It also serves as an intermediary and collects donations on an individual level and redistributes to the NGOs. JFAP internationally invites the government administrators working in the field of HIV/AIDS from the neighboring Asian countries to Japan to take part in training programs designed for this issue. Many amended laws are now being implemented and with the implementation of these new laws , the MHLW announced the National Guidelines for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care to promote anti-Aids measures forming the basis of present day HIV/AIDS policy(Moorison, p.11). A new hospital system known as AIDS Care Core Hospitals emerged in 1996 as a result of lawsuits. The block headquarter hospitals are expected to have special outpatient treatment services and hospital beds specifically for people infected HIV/AIDS, as well as offer counseling and training to medical staff from other AIDS Care Hospitals. Counseling also has an important role to play in the lives of people affected by this epidemic. Since the counselors are not considered as medical professionals, the country has no official examination for them. However, there is an urgent need to promote counseling as well for the moral help of the affected patients. HIV infected people are entitled to welfare measure under the Law for the Welfare of People depending upon the extent of their physical disabilities. Official status as disabled also permits the HIV positive people to get the benefits from the law promoting the employment for people with disabilities(Hanochi, p. 140). The country, nowadays, is mainly focused on awareness raising campaigns focused on the Worlds Aids Day in December and educational programs organized at schools from the primary through to the senior high school levels. However, there are no systematic nationwide school based programs. Systematic prevention programs targeting the populations at high risk have been developed in the gay communities. Prevention centers were established jointly by the MHLW and the Japanese Foundation for AIDS Prevention in the year 2003 specifically for MSMs in downtown Tokyo. The government is also working on addressing HIV/AIDS on an international front. It is considered an important area of assistance in government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) scheme. Many new projects are being supported mainly in the areas of blood supply, research and development and improved testing technology particularly supplying blood testing equipments(Aoyagi, p.10). Steps needed to be taken 1. Though the Japanese government has made some amindments, there proper implementation is still far fetched. AIDS needs to be one of their major agenda which needs to be addressed. 2. The vulnerable class of the society such as MSM, sex workers, and the other countries migrants are need to be properly educated about all the facts about the disease. 3. The general public needs to be made aware right from the beginning. The education about sex should be made a necessity in schools and colleges. 4. It is clear from the above studies that blood is the most vulnerable means of transmission of this disease and proper precautions need to be taken regarding the same. Used needles and syringes should be avoided, affected mother should avoid pregnancy, doctors must follow proper steralyzation processes. It is the responsibility of the general public as well to put a check an tainted equipments especially when the country has alredy suffered ones. 5. Awareness needs to be spread among the lower sections of the society. Use of proper contraceptives needs to be generalized. Conclusion HIV/AIDS surely is a deadly disease but not just because is dangerous but also because people are less aware of its consequences and its causes. Surprisingly, people who are under HIV are still afraid to come out up front. No matter what the studies say, they are still discriminated on the basis of modes of communication of the disease. The biggest example is the formation of two groups of the patients in Japan namely the good and the bad AIDS. People do need to realize that classification or discrimination is not going to help in any way. Public awareness and inclusion of information regarding the disease in the course material is something which should be done from the very beginning. Though the Japanese government is coming up with many new schemes, however there proper enforcement is also necessary. References Aoyagi, K. (2000). Knowledge and attitude toward AIDS among female college students in Nagasaki, Japan. Oxford Journals, 15(1), 5-11. Retrieved March 26, 2013, from http://her.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/1/5.short Feldman, A. Eric. HIV and Blood in Japan: Transforming Private Conflict into Public Scandal. In A. Eric Feldman and Ronald Bayer, eds. Blood Feuds: AIDS, Blood, and the Politics of Medical Disaster. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Hanochi, S. (2000). Japan and the Global Sex Industry . Gender, Globalization, and Gender Democratization (pp. 139-141). Lanham :Rowman& Littlefield. Moorison, A. (1998). Teen Prostitution in Japan: Regulation of Telephone Clubs. Vanderbilt Journal of Transitional Law, 31(2). Retrieved March 13, 1926, from http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-20862669/teen-prostitution-in-japan-regulation-of-telephone Nemoto, T. (2004). HIV/AIDS Surveillance and Prevention Studies In Japan: Summary and Recommendations . Guilford Press, 16, 27-42. Ramseyer, M. (1991). Indentured Prostitution in Imperial Japan: Credible Commitments in the Commercial Sex Industry . JSTOR, 7(1), 89-116. Retrieved March 26, 2012, from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/764879?uid=3739936&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101928623591 Read More