Life Improvement Program, "Better Life without Mosquitoes and Flies" : Lessons Learned from the Postwar Development in Japan with Particular Focus on Community Participation and International Assistance / 国際保健医療

 Since the end of World War II, Japan has successfully implemented of a number of community participatory programs. A program of particular note was the community-based vector and nuisance control program, named “Better life without mosquitoes and flies”. This program was promoted by community organizations based on the concept of vector control being carried out by people within their own communities. Entomology consultants also played an important role, through monitoring and evaluation of the program. Local, middle and central government health authorities supported the activities and connected the each actor tightly.<br> The key factors that contributed to the program's success were clear role-sharing and the setting of common goals by community organizations, academic groups and government authorities. It is also worth noting that, in the immediate post-war period, Japan already possessed the core capacity required for the implementation of community-based sanitation programs introduced by General Headquarter.<br> Due to cultural and environmental differences, the program described may not be directly applicable to the ongoing challenges of vector control faced by developing countries today. However, there are still some useful lessons to be learned from the experiences in Japan.

Urinary Incontinence Among the Middle-Aged and Senior Members of a Rural Community / 日本農村医学会雑誌

We investigated the prevalence of, and factors in, urinary incontinence among the people of middle to advanced age, using a yes/no questionnaire. The total number of respondents was 4, 020 (1, 520 males and 2, 500 females). Seventy-five percent of them were over 65 years old (median age: 67 years). The prevalence of urinary incontinence was 14% for the males and 30% for the females. The data were analyzed by standard statistical tests, such as χ<SUP>2</SUP> tests. The factors closely associated with urinary incontinence were aging, the high urinary frequency in a day, a history of cerebrovascular accidents, difficulty of urination in the males and UTI in the females. Urinary incontinence of the urge type account for 64% of the males and that of the stress type 81% of the females. Fifteen percent of the males and 6% of the females had consulted with physicians or urologists about urinary incontinence. These percentages were lower than those in European countries. However, we suspect that there may be much more latent patients who suffer from urinary incontinence in their daily community life.