Everywhere project in Japan

In the UK and Japan, there is concern regarding rising rates of annual new HIV infections among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). Whilst in the UK and Europe, gay businesses are increasingly recognised as being important settings through which to deliver HIV prevention and health promotion interventions to target vulnerable populations; in Japan such settings-based approaches are relatively underdeveloped.

Following contact between the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Research Group on HIV Prevention Policy, Programme Implementation and Evaluation and the Centre for Health Research at the University of Brighton, it was agreed to try and develop a new enduring partnership providing mutual opportunities to engage in collaborative research, teaching and knowledge exchange between the UK and Japan.

The work was supported by the Daiwa Foundation, the Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Health Labour Sciences Research Grants). The Everywhere Project, upon which the ideas for this collaboration were founded, was co-funded by the European Commission (Executive Agency for Health and Consumers).

The Everywhere in Japan project explored whether it would be feasible, acceptable and desirable to build on the recent European Everywhere project for adaptation and implementation in Japan. A series of expert workshops were conducted in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka with intersectoral representatives from Japanese and UK non-governmental organizations (NGOs), gay businesses, universities and gay communities (n = 46). Further discussion groups and meetings were held with NGO members and researchers from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Research Group on HIV Prevention Policy, Programme Implementation and Evaluation among MSM.

Partners

Ross Boseley (Terrence Higgins Trust)

Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Research Group on HIV Prevention Policy, Programme Implementation and Evaluation: Seiichi Ichikawa, Noriyo Kaneko, Jane Koerner, Michiko Takaku, Satoshi Shiono

UK NGO partner: Terrence Higgins Trust (Brighton, UK)

Japanese NGO partners: Yarokko, Akta, Angel Life Nagoya, MASH Osaka, Love Act Fukuoka, Nankr, HaaT Ehime, PLACE Tokyo, JaNP+, LIFE, Tokai

The results showed that it is desirable, feasible and acceptable to adapt and implement a Japanese version of Everywhere. Such a practical, policy-relevant, settings based HIV prevention framework for gay businesses may help to facilitate the necessary scale up of prevention responses among MSM in Japan. Given the high degree of sexual mobility between countries in Asia, there is considerable potential for the Everywhere Project (or its Japanese variant) to be expanded and adapted to other countries within the Asia-Pacific region.

As of 2016, a number of gay businesses in Japan had adopted and adapted the Everywhere Standards in HIV prevention for MSM.

Publications

Sherriff, NS, Koerner, J, Kaneko, N, Shiono, S, Takaku, M, Boseley, R, and Ichikawa, S (2015) Everywhere in Japan: An international approach to working together with commercial ‘gay’ businesses and community organisations in HIV prevention for Men who have Sex with Men. Health Promotion International (IF: 2.046; published in English and Japanese).

Sherriff, NS (2012) A feasibility study to explore the piloting of the Everywhere Project in Japan. Report to the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation. Brighton: University of Brighton.

Sherriff, NS and Ichikawa, S (2012) Everywhere: Engaging 'gay' businesses in HIV Prevention: Feasibility workshops to explore the piloting of the Everywhere Project in Japan. Report to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's Research Group on HIV Prevention Policy, Program Implementation and Evaluation among MSM as part of a Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention's (JFAP) Fellowship. Brighton: University of Brighton.