Overseas Crisis Management Information Session for Female Students and Researchers Held at TUFS

September 5, 2019

On Wednesday the 26th of June, Dr. KURITA Nao, a travel medicine specialist from the Tokyo Medical University Hospital’s Travel Clinic, and Dr. USUI Chie, gynecologist and director of the Chie Ladies Clinic Yoyogi-Uehara, were welcomed to TUFS as lecturers for the “Overseas Crisis Management Information Session for Female Students and Researchers”. This event was organized by the TUFS Student Mobility Center, and sponsored by the TUFS Gender Equality Promotion Office and the Office for International Affairs.

At this information session, which was held in Room 101 of the Research and Lecture Building, there were over 100 participants in attendance including TUFS faculty, male students and faculty from other universities. Dr. Kurita talked about a wide range of topics including vaccinations one should get before studying abroad, medical documents one should take abroad, dealing with infectious diseases including STIs, what to do in the case of sexual assault, and the importance of insurance. Dr. Usui began her talk with an explanation of the inner workings of the female body and menstruation, and discussed changes to the body that require urgent medical attention, pregnancy, and contraception. At the end of the session, a question and answer session was held, and many students showed their interest by staying behind to ask further questions.

Here at TUFS, crisis management information sessions are often held by the Student Exchange Division and the Student Mobility Center, but since over 60% of TUFS students are female, there has been a demand for more information sessions aimed specifically at women, which resulted in the first “Overseas Crisis Management Information Session for Female Students and Researchers” being held. When managing crises while abroad, the most important condition is that you must “protect yourself”. TUFS aims to equip students with the knowledge to do so by sharing information in a number of ways, including through these information sessions.