Everywhere in Japan: an international approach to working with commercial gay businesses in HIV prevention

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. This article draws on qualitative data from a recently completed study conducted to explore whether it is feasible, acceptable and desirable to build on the recent European Everywhere project for adaptation and implementation to Japan. A series of expert workshops were conducted in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka with intersectoral representatives from Japanese and UK non-governmental organisations (NGO), gay businesses, universities, and gay communities (n=46). Further discussion groups and meetings were held with NGO members and researchers from Nagoya City University who realise the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Research Group on HIV Prevention Policy, Program Implementation and Evaluation among MSM (n=34). 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 developed 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.