The initiative entitled “Developing a Comprehensive Health Education Program for University Students and Program Effectiveness Survey Results” conducted by Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) in FY2019 not only revealed that there is high demand for comprehensive health education among university students, it also suggested that comprehensive health education can result in changes in awareness or behavior towards reproductive health. Based on the results of that study, in FY2020, we are working to create a sustainable mechanism for securing human resources and dispatching midwives to all higher educational institutions, including universities, through advocacy and other activities so this program can be implemented nationwide.

As one effort in our activities to secure human resources, with cooperation from the Japan Midwives Association, we held an online workshop for 24 midwives who have applied to become lecturers for our program. At the workshop, we covered the latest medical science knowledge related to reproductive health and health education based on life plans. We also conducted group work that included exercises for developing presentation skills. The program will be held every month for four months. We plan to train approximately 100 midwives nationwide on the skills necessary for running this educational program, which is based on global standards.

Lecturers:
Hasuo Yutaka (Director, Aomori Women’s Healthcare Research Institute)
Tomiko Okamoto (President, UPAUPAHOUSE okamotojosanin)
Yoko Eguchi (Consultant, HR Institute, Inc.)

This project is operated with financial support from the Nippon Foundation.