Messages from the Presidents
I want to improve healthcare access in my home country.
I wanted to somehow contribute to rescuing my homeland from the devastation of a major earthquake. This determination led me to participate in medical support activities in Nepal. Looking back, this marked the beginning of our long path as ASHA.
Having received my medical license in Japan, I had never been involved in local medical activities in Nepal and was overwhelmed by the local situation which is totally different from Japan. During the mobile medical clinic, people who have no health problems but come to the clinic because they are curious to see a doctor, and elderly people who are not willing to make any effort to improve their health even if their health problems can be solved with a simple medical treatment and a little money. I was shocked to see such a medical situation in my home country, and my desire to do something about it grew stronger.
After working in Nepal, I realized that there were support activities that could be done from Japan, and decided to continue working together with Nin, who is also a president of ASHA. We want the people of Nepal to be able to receive medical care easily and effectively. ASHA's activities began in earnest when we started building a system for this purpose.People could not let themselves to solve health issues that could be easily and immediately solved because they do not know how to get medical access. Even if they have access to medical care, their illnesses are not easily cured due to the difficulty of continuous treatment. We will continue to search for various methods to change the situations.
It has been nine years since ASHA was founded. Especially since COVID-19, the number of pro bono members has increased and the size of the organization has grown, which has led to the launch of diverse projects and more active activities. With the support of many encounters, we have been able to promote our activities as ASHA. Now that we have grown in size, we would like to make ASHA an organization that our members enjoy participating in and are happy to be involved in, while maintaining a balance with their day jobs.
We will continue to strive to realize an environment in which the people of our home country, Nepal, can easily and effectively receive medical care.
President
Shakya Sandeep
New Mechanism Will Change Healthcare in Nepal
I first met Shakya on the day before the Nepal earthquake that struck on April 25, 2015. Since the topic of my undergraduate thesis was Nepal's health care system, we immediately started looking for what we could do to help. Then, in September 2015, we held a mobile clinic in all village near the epicenter, where Shakya was the first doctor to come in four years. We went to the village with the intention of contributing something, but we were struck by an indescribable sense of doubt.
- What could we have done in just one stopgap mobile clinic?
Nine years have passed since its establishment, and the scope of activities has expanded to include building a system of care by local residents themselves while utilizing technology to provide access to medical care in areas far from medical facilities, and offering special classes in first aid for junior high school students. In pursuit of "Affordable and Sustainable Healthcare Access," we will continue to work together with those who need our activities to find a way to create a society that is possible in this era.
With the help of many people, we have been able to grow from an organization initially founded by six graduate students to one with over 50 pro bono members. In the process, ASHA also decided to act as a "platform for pro bono members with thoughts, experience, and knowledge to gather and explore new ways of being in society.
We would like to continue our activities so that this system, which we have spun out through relationships with many people, will lead to "Basic Health Rights" for people who wish to live in good health, and we would appreciate your support.
President
Yoshifumi Nin
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