February, 2022
Eisai employees visited the Makuhari Elementary School in Chiba City, Japan to provide on-demand lessons for fourth grade classes, and talked about Eisai’s initiatives* for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its activities for improving access to medicines globally. For Eisai, it was the first attempt for Eisai to send its employees as volunteer lecturers to give SDGs related lessons provided primarily for children.
Eisai employee at the on-demand lesson
＊Eisai is engaged in activities for improving access to medicines in order to deliver essential medicines to people in developing and emerging countries. Eisai is committed to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, together with many of its partners around the world, through a variety of activities to address significant issues, including GOAL 1 “No Poverty”, GOAL 3 “Good Health and Well-Being”, GOAL 6 “Clean Water and Sanitation” and GOAL 17 “Partnerships for the Goals”. For more information on Eisai’s initiatives for SDGs, please click here.
The on-demand lessons were designed to encourage children to think about “the efforts each individual can make to achieve the SDGs as a member of society.”
First of all, Eisai employees outlined some significant issues of the current global situation to let the children realize that what they usually take for granted, such as going to a hospital for a diagnosis and a prescription when they get sick, might be quite rare for people in some countries such as developing and emerging countries. Next, Eisai employees explained about Eisai’s efforts to provide medicines globally to people in need by introducing Eisai’s provision of diethylcarbamazine (DEC) tablets, one of the treatments for lymphatic filariasis (LF), to developing and emerging countries free of charge. During the lecture, the children also learnt that, in countries where people do not have a habit of taking medicine, children play an active role for the LF elimination activities by conveying their knowledge about LF which they have learnt at school to their families or participating in LF awareness events with performing dance and singing songs.
By participating in an event to learn basic knowledge about LF, children will be able to tell their families at home about the importance of taking medicines. (India)
At events, children perform dance and sing songs aiming to provide correct knowledge of LF to participants. (Indonesia)
The children listened to Eisai employees seriously and asked a lot of questions that they could not even answer within class hours. Eisai employees shared a lively and meaningful time with all of them, owing to the fact that the children have studied the SDGs enthusiastically on a daily basis in addition to that the teachers have prepared well for the on-demand lessons in advance. Eisai is very grateful to the children and teachers for giving a valuable opportunity to introduce Eisai’s efforts.
Eisai will continue to contribute to further increasing the benefits provided to patients and their families worldwide through improving access to medicines in developing and emerging countries, with the desire to “provide hope to patients in need worldwide by ensuring access to essential medicines to as many people as possible.”