Bringing Health and Smiles to Every Home in Africa with 'Medicine Kits x Medicine Notebooks'!

Our organization endorses April Dream, an initiative to make April 1st a day to share dreams. This press release is the dream of NPO AfriMedico.

With the mission of 'connecting Africa and Japan through medicine, delivering health and smiles,' AfriMedico has been working to popularize the 'Okigusuri' (medicine kit) system—a tradition passed down in Japan since the Edo period to protect family health—to households across Africa. As a new initiative this year, we have begun distributing the 'medicine notebook,' which originated in Japan, along with the medicine kits to promote the proper use and management of medicines.

Sustainable Methods Needed to Save Many Lives
Machii, the representative of AfriMedico, worked as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer in Niger. A mother in a village in Niger told him, 'My child has a high fever and might die. I'm going to the hospital, so please give me 200 yen.' Giving her money might save that child, but there are many other children who need help. To save many people, it is necessary to change the social system, and it must be a sustainable method. Machii came up with the idea of 'Okigusuri' from the Edo period, a system where medicine is immediately available when needed, and you pay later only for what you used.

Currently, AfriMedico is working to improve 'Access to Medicine' by setting up medicine boxes in about 200 households in Tanzania and offices in urban areas.

What is Important for Access to Medicine
Merely being able to obtain medicines does not lead to improved healthcare access. 'Prevention' by keeping in mind washing hands, gargling, and a clean environment; 'self-medication' where individuals take responsibility for their own health and treat minor ailments themselves; 'early consultation' at a medical institution if self-care does not improve the condition; and the proper use of medicines when necessary—all of these are important for improving Access to Medicine.

AfriMedico not only sets up medicine kits but also includes leaflets in the boxes detailing the proper use of medicines and instructions to visit a medical institution immediately if diseases like malaria are suspected. We also conduct disease awareness education in villages, such as the importance of hand-washing and gargling, and education about malaria, calling for the importance of prevention, self-medication, and early medical consultation.