Laureate of the 7th Okinawa Peace Prize

Japan Heart

Japan Heart is an international medical NGO founded on the principle of “providing health care to areas where it is currently out of reach, wherever that may be.” They operate in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, and Japan. Japan Heart dispatches many Japanese medical personnel and volunteers overseas to provide health care support such as medical examinations and surgeries for people who cannot receive adequate care due to poverty. It is also involved in the training of local medical staff within those regions.

In Japan, they have carried out reconstruction support in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Japan Heart is also engaged in efforts such as the “Smile-smile” operation, which supports children with cancer, and they send doctors to hospitals in remote rural areas and isolated islands that struggle with a severe lack of medical personnel. Furthermore, it is also involved in international emergency relief efforts via the swift dispatch of medical staff to areas in Japan and the ASEAN region that have been affected by large scale natural disasters.