In October 2019, HGPI Senior Associate Ms. Yuko Imamura and three midwives from the Japanese Midwives Association gave a series of health education lectures at Chuo University, Sophia University, and Hosei University. The lectures were attended by approximately 240 men and women. Comprehensive discussions were held on a wide variety of topics in life planning and relevant social systems to share knowledge related to sex, pregnancy, and birth.

In the Survey on Health Promotion and Working Women conducted by HGPI in 2018, about 30% of women age 18 to 29 did not possess knowledge of the mechanisms of menstruation and pregnancy and about 60% did not possess knowledge of uterine and ovarian diseases. It also found that internet searches were the most popular tool for gathering information on women’s health. Internet searches can result in the spread of incorrect information, which carries the risk of people making life decisions based on said incorrect information. Meanwhile, the survey found that women wished to learn more about the topics of “female specific diseases” and “when to see a doctor” at school, leading to the conclusion that more coverage of women’s health management in school education is needed. Based on this finding, HGPI began efforts to provide health education to university students in FY2019 and is conducting surveys to measure its effectiveness as part of our project on women’s health.

We plan to present the survey results in late March, 2020.
Please note that this project is conducted with funding from the Nippon Foundation.