The Japanese Perception of AIDS January 2002 HIV/AIDS is not only a growing problem in the U. S. A, it is a world wide problem. With an increased attention to HIV/AIDS, it is now being considered “a major security threat that knows no borders.” This article talks about how the Group of Eight countries came together and reached an agreement to put together a multibillion dollar fund to pay for the global efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.
The article also states that Japan has less than 10, 000 cases of HIV/AIDS among all the Japanese nationals. It leads us to wonder what the Japanese perception of AIDS is. An “opinion poll” study, involving 5, 000 randomly selected Japanese nationals, with a completion rate of 70%, allowed researchers to gain a better understanding of the changes in attitudes of the Japanese nationals over the course of time from 1987 to 1996. This study was recently modified in the last few years, allowing teenagers to participate and voice their opinions for the first time. They were asked questions revolving around if they had ever seen anything in writing about the deadly disease. A very high 96 %, the same as the past few years, replied with a yes, leading us to conclude that the risk of getting AIDS is well known and understood in Japan.
They were then asked if they thought that the number of AIDS cases would increase in the future. They concluded that many of the younger age groups believed that the number of AIDS cases would increase, while the 70 years and older groups believed that if would not go up that much. A few main reasons why people think that the number of AIDS cases is going to increase is because “sexual behavior of the Japanese has become more liberated (65%), intermingling with foreign countries has increased (42%), “there is no drug care or vaccines (39%), knowledge regarding the prevention of the spread of AIDS is limited (36%), and that it is increasing throughout the world (31%).” With all this, when asked if they were concerned about getting AIDS, 75 percent, verses 2 percent, stated that they weren’t concerned about the disease because 60 percent stated that no one in their family or friends had it, 30 percent said that it was limited to a specific category and 22 percent said that they had other ways to protect themselves against AIDS. What happens if you find out that the person that you are working with has AIDS? At what point would you change your perception of how you interact with this person? When asked this question, the responses divided in half. 45 percent stated that would not like working with an infected person, 40 percent stating that they wouldn’t mind and 15 percent was undecided. The people that didn’t mind working with someone who was infected stated reasons such as, “discrimination is not good (65%), they have a right to be able to work (61%), and that the chances of catching the virus is low (37%).” The people that minded that they would be working with someone who was infected gave reasons such as, “need to have to always be mindful / anxious (66%), it would have a negative influence on the workplace environment (36%), and there is a possibility of catching the disease (34%).” Many conclusions were drawn from this opinion poll.
Japan compared to other advanced countries, it seems is relatively not effected by the HIV/AIDS virus. They concluded that the Japanese nationals think that HIV/AIDS is something that is not a problem to them, but to the surrounding foreigners. They feel that it is the foreigners fault that the virus is now becoming a problem for them at home because about 15 percent of all male AIDS cases and 50 percent of all female cases living in Japan are foreigners. Overall, HIV/AIDS is not only a growing problem in Japan, it is a world wide problem that will eventually reach every part of the world no matter how careful you are..