The issue of poor basic health is one of the main problems affecting school attendance for primary school students in rural areas of Laos. The project puts an emphasis on extending open access for students to basic healthcare services, knowledge, and information about sanitary living conditions and some preventable diseases. It specifically provides basic healthcare information for teachers and students and equips target schools with first aid kits or medicine boxes for any urgent and basic healthcare and treatments.

The project aims to cover the cost of children’s health and education in poor families. The goal is to improve school attendance among students from rural, poor families, as low health standards often lead to poor school attendance and inadequate education
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The project was launched in 2001 because of a student named Bounlai. From May 27-30, 2001, a donor team, lead by the governor of the town of Itakura Machi, visited Pakthon Village, Lamam district in Sekong province, and stayed with the villagers. During the visit a scholarship student named Bounlai was bitten by a snake on his left hand. At first he was cured in the village with local care, but due to the seriousness of the child's symptoms and poverty in his family, the donor team was very worried about the child's wound. The team feared it might cause his death if there was no proper emergency care. Mr. Akio Terumasa, president of the Darunee group and of the Minsai Center at that time, approved a sum of money for the child’s medical care in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos.

After the donor team went back to Japan, Mr. Terumasa and the donors from the Itakura Machi team raised funds for emergency medical care for children and initiated the Primary Health Care Insurance Project, or the Bounlai Project, in Bounlai’s school and in other primary schools in Khammuane and Sekong province.

Donated funds are used to create an insurance fund for primary health care for primary school students. Some of the funds are used to get common and necessary medicines for villages. To make a donation, please click HERE. For more information, please click HERE or CONTACT US.

The project is operated by village authorities and schools, the District Education Bureau (DEB), and Provincial Education Services (PES) in cooperation with the District Healthcare Service and under the supervision of EDF-Lao. Money can be withdrawn to cover medical care fees from the insurance fund, and DEB is responsible for maintaining the bank accounts. Medical service documents or prescriptions must be presented before people can make a claim. Those taking part in the project must pay 5,000 Kip (Laotian money) each year as a premium.