Japan’s First Volunteer in Ethiopia

The dispatch of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) began in Ethiopia in 1972. The first group included eight smallpox monitors, four auto mechanics, and two radio operators to form a group to support the World Health Organization (WHO)'s smallpox eradication program. Our total number was 15, (we had one volunteer that was not a part of the support team), I was one of the smallpox monitor volunteers.

More than a half century ago, smallpox was extremely contagious and had long been feared by people around the world as a deadly disease, but with the spread of vaccines, it became preventable, and the WHO began its eradication efforts in developing countries in 1967. As a result, by the end of the 1960s, Ethiopia remained as the only African country with smallpox cases. Ethiopia's large land area and rugged terrain made it difficult to reach health services, and the WHO requested the cooperation of young volunteers from abroad, such as the Peace Corps from the United States and the JOCVs, to assist with the surveillance of smallpox. made it difficult to reach health services.

At the time, maps of Ethiopia were not readily available to us, and it was impossible to know where villages were located and how many residents we should expect in each area. Every member of the surveillance team hired an Ethiopian student as an assistant, and we drove Land Cruisers equipped with radios, and drew maps as we searched for villages. We would walk with tents and sleeping bags on our backs to villages deep in the mountains or at the bottom of valleys, since we could not access a lot of areas by car due to the lack of bridges or roads. In these villages we searched for patient’s door to door.

The smallpox eradication support team worked together for four years and our efforts culminated in the declaration that smallpox was eradicated in Ethiopia in 1976. Smallpox became the first infectious disease to be eradicated by mankind.

This is my story as one of the first Japanese volunteers in Ethiopia. I believe the bonds that we have created between Japan and Ethiopia through this half century are extremely strong and will continue for the next 50 years.