JOCV 50th year anniversary

Name: Madoka Kurata
Batch: FY1993-3 (Apr 1994 - Mar 1996)
Technical Field: Veterinarian
Host Organization: Thyolo Veterinary Office
Hometown in Japan: Ota Ward, Tokyo

A Piece of Memory: "The Animal (Humanity) vs. Virus Struggle Continues"

The variola virus (smallpox virus) is the only (supposedly) eradicated virally transmitted disease in humans to date. Now that more than two years have gone by since the fight against COVID-19 began, it is said that more than 285 million people have been infected as of the end of December 2021. Meanwhile, as of the end of 2020, there were 37.6 million people testing positive for HIV-AIDS, with 1.5 million new infections emerging per year and 690,000 people dying per year due to AIDS. Compared to the 1990s, when the virus raged rampantly, the number supposedly has been more than halved due to the effectiveness of treatment drugs, but this virus is still killing 690,000 people a year.

I set foot on Malawi to learn about viral and zoonotic diseases common to humans and animals. Rabies was close at hand, and I witnessed African swine fever and lumpy skin disease. There are many viral infections that have been exposed by development projects carried out by humans. I believe HIV, Ebola, Lassa fever, and COVID-19 are among them. Yet, effective vaccines have not even been developed for HIV, Ebola, and Lassa fever.

VAs under the jurisdiction of the Thyolo Veterinary Office

At the time, there were more than a dozen Veterinary Assistants (VAs) at the Thyolo Veterinary Office, and Mr. Kanjala (a lovely surname in Chichewa, meaning "hungry") was one of the VAs assigned to the Office. Being well respected by farmers in the surrounding area, he had been working diligently and had also been actively involved in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. After my term in Malawi ended, he came to Japan for counterpart training and returned to Malawi upon having absorbed various knowledge and skills. However, less than two years after returning to Malawi after completing his training in Japan, he died of HIV at a young age. When we visited him at his apartment during his training in Japan, there was a pumpkin cooked in a rice cooker. It appeared to be a gift from a Japanese farmer he had visited during his training. He must have been well accepted by Japanese farmers, too. I still remember laughing with admiration at his idea of using a rice cooker to cook pumpkins. Two of the five VAs in the photo passed away during my term. There were days when I heard that a VA was admitted to a hospital on the day before, and I would sigh, thinking that the VA had only a few more days (before he also would pass away). Those were the days when I was shocked to hear of the loss of so many promising people in the prime of their careers. I thought that such a gloomy topic would not be appropriate for this project commemorating the 50th anniversary of the dispatch of JOCV members, but I will certainly never forget the shock I felt at that time. Human beings have scored only one victory in the struggle with viruses.

Next, I would like to hand over the baton to Ms. Noriko Nishimura (maiden name Fukaya), aka "Noridaa,", a JOCV member of Batch FY1993-2, who served as the "Minister of Sugar," rather than a pharmacist, at her workplace and always performed her signature dish dance at the JOCV members' gatherings.