Our Town Inagi 2016: Mana Watanabe

We want to reduce the number of people who die from infectious diseases!

Mr. Watanabe, a clinical laboratory technician residing in the city, has been dispatched as a volunteer to Ghana in Africa for two years from September 2016 to September 2018 as part of the JICA Youth Overseas Cooperation Volunteers.
JICA conducts international cooperation to support the resolution of issues faced by developing countries. Mr. Watanabe, as the person in charge of infectious disease and AIDS measures, will巡回 the dispatched areas and support health services. Additionally, managing and utilizing health data in the dispatched areas is part of his duties. Local staff are reportedly looking forward to having Mr. Watanabe, who has experience as a clinical laboratory technician in infectious disease testing, visit the laboratory.
The motivation to participate in volunteering came from hearing the story of someone who participated in the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers when Mr. Watanabe was a high school student. After working in a hospital, he decided to participate, thinking he wanted to use the experience and knowledge he gained to help someone.
The dispatch location is an undeveloped area in Ghana, where the water for daily life is rainwater, significantly changing from the previous way of living. Facing a harsh environment, Mr. Watanabe expressed his enthusiasm, saying, "There are countless anxieties, but there is much to gain. I want to empathize with the struggles on-site, learn from them, and utilize my experiences after returning to Japan."