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 worked 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. Since November 2020, the workshops for training midwives who can conduct comprehensive health education lectures were held 5 times, and it was completed on March 13, 2021. In the future, roughly 100 midwives from across the country will participate in the project to spread health education.

In FY2021, we will collaborate with various stakeholders such as midwives, universities, related organizations, and companies to build a sustainable platform aiming to realize a society where all young people can be provided with the opportunities in education and reproductive health consultation. This platform operates on three axes: providing comprehensive health education to universities nationwide, providing information and consultation services to young people using youth cafes and online consultation, and conducting research and policy proposals. We also plan to set up a website to spread information about this platform for the youth to utilize it.

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

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