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 will support health services by touring the dispatched areas as a person in charge of infectious diseases and AIDS measures. Additionally, managing and utilizing health data in the dispatched areas is part of his duties. Local staff are looking forward to having Mr. Watanabe, who has experience in infectious disease testing as a clinical laboratory technician, visit the laboratory.
The opportunity to participate in volunteering came when Mr. Watanabe heard stories from someone who had participated in the Youth Overseas Cooperation Volunteers when he was a high school student. After working in a hospital, he decided to participate, thinking he wanted to use his experience and knowledge to help someone.
The dispatch location is an undeveloped area in Ghana, where the drinking water is rainwater, significantly changing from his previous lifestyle. 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 suffering on-site, learn from it, and utilize my experiences after returning to Japan."