aimed at finding solutions to the problems of various countries by sharing the knowledge and experiences of developed, as well as developing, countries concerning social security policies, covering such areas as public sanitation, health insurance, and pension systems.

Current projects targeting the developing countries include: promoting measures for global parasitic disease control; sharing of knowledge and experiences through international conferences for high-level administrators of social security; and, personnel training, dispatch of experts and acceptance of trainees for promoting the development of social security systems in developing countries.

## $ ^{*} $ 6: Women in Development (WID)

WID refers to "women in development." For details, see section (3) Women in Development (WID)/Gender in Developing Countries.

## (1) Basic Education

## $ ^{*} $ 7: Japan's support for construction of school buildings

In the five-year period beginning in fiscal 1993, Japan provided assistance for the construction of approximately 16,000 school buildings. In Jordan, for instance, Yen loans have been used in the construction of 9% of all primary and secondary school buildings. In Nepal, Japanese grant assistance has been used to provide materials needed for the construction of school buildings, with entire communities participating in the actual construction work. Following this initiative, elementary school enrollment ratios in Nepal climbed from 64% in 1990 to 75% in 1994.

## $ ^{*} $ 8: Japan's contributions to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) activities for the education of girls

Since fiscal 1993, Japan has annually contributed U.S.$1 million to UNICEF related activities.

## (2) Health and Medical Care

## $ ^{*} $ 9: Incidence of polio

The annual global incidence of polio has dropped from approximately 35,000 cases in 1988 to approximately 3,200 cases in 1998. Japan has identified East Asia and the Pacific region as priority areas for assistance in polio control. Since fiscal 1993, Japan has implemented assistance totaling approximately ¥2.8 billion for providing polio vaccines, cold chain portable refrigerator for vaccines storage, and diagnostic and monitoring equipment. (This assistance amounts to approximately 35% of all assistance provided to these regions in the fight against polio.) As a result of these efforts, polio has been almost totally eliminated from these regions.

### 2. Support for Economic and Social Infrastructure

## $ ^{*} $ 10: Examples of Japanese assistance in Asia

In the fields of transportation and communications, Japan's Yen loans accounted for 38% of the total electrification of China's railways, approximately 32% of the construction of the highways in Bangkok, approximately 15% of the installation of all telephone lines in the Philippines, and the construction and expansion of the port of Colombo, which handles approximately 89% of all cargo shipments in Sri Lanka. In the area of energy, Japan has cooperated in the construction of about 24% of all power generating facilities in Malaysia, 18% in Indonesia, 15% in Thailand, 44% in Vietnam, 18% in Bangladesh, and 20% in Egypt. Japanese ODA has accounted for 60% of the water supply facilities in the city of Jakarta, and 56% of the sewerage treatment facilities in the Republic of Korea.

### 3. Human Resources Development and Intellectual Support

## (1) Human Resources Development

## $ ^{*} $ 11: Human resources development

Since 1954, Japan has accepted more than 160,000 trainees. The geographic distribution of trainees accepted during fiscal 1997 (totaling 7,263 persons from 152 countries and regions) is as follows: 6,214 from Asia (50.6% of total), 2,381 from Latin America (19.4%), 1,046 from the Middle East (8.5%), and 1,602 from Africa (13%). Distribution by field is as follows: 2,440 in human resources development (19.9% of total), 2,340 in planning and administration (19.1%), 2,049 in public and public-sector enterprises (16.7%), 1,971 in agriculture, forestry and fisheries (16%), 1,398 in health and medical services (11.4%), and 991 in mining (8.1%).

## $ ^{*} $ 12: Third-country training

Third-country training refers to the acceptance of trainees by developing countries under financial and technical assistance from Japan. Such arrangements provide the advantage of training in neighboring countries with similar social and cultural environments. For instance, using technologies transferred from Japan, third-country training was provided in Thailand to trainees from Vietnam and Laos with Japan supporting this transfer of technologies from Thailand to third countries. During fiscal 1997, some 1,836 trainees participated in third-country training programs offered in 23 countries, including Thailand and Singapore in Asia, and Brazil, Chile, and Egypt.