The Laureate of the 5th Okinawa Peace Prize

Services for the Health in Asian and African Regions (SHARE)

[Reason for Award]
Services for the Health in Asian and African Regions (hereafter “SHARE”) was established in 1983 in order to share a healthy and peaceful world with all people, and is comprised mainly of active doctors, nurses, and students at the grassroots level.

Up to the present, SHARE has dispatched doctors and nurses to such locations as Thailand, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and South Africa, seeking and building cooperative relationships which focus on interpersonal connection and learning.

SHARE’s activities aim to promote health through developing human resources and voluntary mutual aid while working together with local people. These activities contribute to the realization of a society in which one can live comfortably and one which respects human life and basic human rights, while also promoting human security.

SHARE supports activities for people living with HIV and carries out educational activities on HIV prevention in Thailand and South Africa, supports the construction of health centers and the development of human resources in the field of health in Cambodia, and also carries out activities to promote health and education in Timor-Leste. In addition, the organization makes selfless efforts in helping foreigners to live comfortably in Japan through domestic efforts such as providing health consultation visits and telephone medical consultation for foreigners who struggle with access to medical care, offering AIDS telephone consultation in Thai, and developing human resources to smoothly advance medical care for foreigners. Furthermore, SHARE has also carried out emergency support operations at the time of large-scale disasters such as the Great Hanshin and Awaji Earthquake, the Niigata Chūetsu-Oki Earthquake, and the earthquake that occurred in the ocean off Sumatra.

Taking into consideration their offering of such specialization in healthcare to conduct activities which contribute to the health of Asia and the Pacific as well as the people of developing countries, we feel that SHARE is worthy of the Okinawa Peace Prize. What can be particularly recognized are SHARE’s healthcare activities which value a primary healthcare approach, strive to realize a society in which all people can live in good physical and mental health, and which are based on a long-term perspective. Moreover, local resident participatory activities which involve thinking together with local residents, facilitating their independence, and providing sideline support for their independent initiatives are structured in a way that allows local residents themselves to continue their initiatives long-term, which is expected to lead to the fruition and further development of these community activities.

SHARE’s over 27 years of experience and achievements are expected to save those people and regions which, even now, are deprived of living healthy lives, as well as to be a force of creating peace in the Asia Pacific region.

The Okinawa Peace Prize Committee finds SHARE, which contributes to the promotion of human security not only in the Asia Pacific region but also on a global scale, to be most worthy of the 5th Okinawa Peace Prize.

Emphasis on the spirit of mutual aid as well as cooperation and unity with other fields forms the foundation of SHARE’s activities. This adheres to the objective of the Okinawa Peace Prize which was established to contribute to the creation of eternal peace, reflecting of the historical and cultural characteristics of Okinawa.

We have therefore decided to award the 5th Okinawa Peace Prize to SHARE, with the expectation that by sharing the Okinawan mentality of cherishing harmony between people and in the community, an ideal which was borne out of an Okinawa which rose up and developed from ruin and chaos after the War, as well as by supporting the development of their future activities, they will make even further contributions to the realization of eternal world peace together with the Okinawa Peace Prize.

Services for the Health in Asian and African Regions (SHARE) Summary

Establishment:
August 1983: - established as “Foreign Aid Operations Medical Group” as a
result of aid operations for Indochinese refugees
September 2001: - registered as a nonprofit organization

Address: Marukō Bldg. 5F
1-20-6 Higashi Ueno
Taitō-ku, Tokyo 110-0015

Representative: Tōru Honda
Phone: 03-5807-7581 facsimile: 03-3837-2151

Services for the Health in Asian and African Regions (SHARE) was established in 1983 by medical personnel and students aiming for international medical cooperation by citizens. Remaining consistent from the time of its establishment, SHARE conducts activities solely in the field of healthcare, carrying out operations based on a primary healthcare approach mainly in Asia and Africa such as regional health operations, education on AIDS prevention, and support activities for those living with HIV. Furthermore, they are also making efforts to support foreigners who struggle with access to medical care within Japan. SHARE strives to realize a society in which all people can live in good physical and mental health through operations both domestically and abroad.

• Content of Activities

1.  Timor-Leste
   SHARE carries out activities in Timor-Leste to train human resources who can practice health education. In order to change the current situation in which approximately 1 in 8 children dies before reaching their 5th birthday, their goal is to provide the local residents with the knowledge they need to ensure the health of both themselves and their children, as well as to see that preventive activities are practiced in households and in the community.
2. hailand
   SHARE is making efforts against AIDS centered in the north-eastern province of Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand. They provide support for HIV groups (holding monthly meetings and workshops, mutual house visits between people living with HIV), and raising awareness about AIDS among local residents (AIDS campaigns within villages, AIDS education for immigrant workers from Laos and homosexual males).
3. Cambodia
   With a focus on strengthening health examination activities in Cambodia, SHARE aims for the building of healthy villages through supporting the development of local human resources in healthcare and the construction of healthcare centers. Prey Veng Province, one of their activity areas, is one of the provinces with adverse mother-child healthcare conditions. In order to prevent the worsening of child sicknesses in farming regions without an ample supply of medicine and supplies, it is necessary that healthcare center staff find and examine abnormalities at an early stage.
4. South Africa
   As far as AIDS efforts in South Africa, SHARE provides appropriate care for HIV-positive individuals, supports community activities by HIV-positive individuals themselves, provides support for children who are affected by AIDS, and promotes the creation of home gardens for improved nutrition. In South Africa, where 12% of the population (5,700,000 people) are infected with HIV, AIDS has a dire effect especially on the poor, local society, as well as children.
5. Japan
   In order to sustain and improve the health of foreigners who struggle with receiving medical services in Japan, SHARE carries out free health consultation visits, telephone medical consultation, AIDS medical consultation in Thai, as well as interpreter training and dispatch in cooperation with the administration to support the treatment of patients with tuberculosis.

5th Okinawa Peace Prize Selection Committee

Chairperson Akito Arima　(Japan Sciences Foundation, Chairman)
Hiroko Sho （University of the Ryukyus, Professor Emeritus）
Teruo Iwamasa（University of the Ryukyus, President）
Kazuko Asano（NHK Museum of Broadcasting, Superintendent）
Kang Sang-jung（The University of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies Graduated School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, Professor）
Yoshiaki Kobayashi（Keio University Faculty of Law, Professor）
Ryuhei Hatsuse（Kyoto Women's University Faculty for The Study of Contemporary Society, Professor）