A group of researchers and nongovernmental organizations is urging the government to reinforce support measures for foreigners with HIV or AIDS in Japan.

Masayoshi Tarui, vice secretary general of the organizing committee of the Seventh International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, said that while foreign residents account for only 1.6 percent of the population, roughly 24 percent of people with HIV or AIDS in Japan are foreigners.

The inaugural ICAAP was held in 1990 to confront the issue. It is sponsored by the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.