On November 27 (Tuesday), Representative Director Toru Honda of SHARE, a specified non-profit corporation, who is also a physician at Asakusa Hospital, visited Soka University and delivered a lecture to approximately 400 students under the title, “No One Left Behind: A Society of SDGs and Primary Healthcare.”

SHARE was established in 1983 as an NGO conducting international cooperation activities centering on healthcare. It conducts a wide range of activities domestically and internationally with the aim of helping those who cannot receive appropriate medical treatment lead healthy lives, which includes community healthcare activities in developing countries, educational efforts to improve awareness of AIDS, support activities for those who are HIV positive, emergency relief activities, and health support services for domestic foreign national residents.

In his lecture, Representative Director Honda shared the importance of ensuring people access to medical treatment, among all human security matters, and that this was his conclusion after engaging in healthcare in hospitals in Japan and through his experience as a member of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, exerting himself in medical activities to children and mothers in Tunisia who have been unable to receive medical treatment. Later, he engaged in developing learning materials for health education in East Timor and Thailand, which encouraged local residents to take the initiative to improve their health.

He then stated that SHARE recognizes health as a basic human right and aims for all people to become healthy, and to this end, he cherishes the approach of “primary healthcare” in which local residents serve as the main players, comprehensively and equally solving issues themselves by responding to the most important needs of the people. He said, “Always being aware of SDG healthcare indicators, I hope that you will study well during your student days, aiming to realize a society in which everyone can live with both spiritual and physical health.”