Ladyknows reinvents female medical checkups through entertainment value

Have you heard of the International Day of the Girl Child? Since 2012, October 11 is marked as this International Day. The UN declared the International Day of the Girl Child to recognize girls’ rights, understand the difficulties and challenges they face around the world as well as to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights for the future.

“adot” is a limited company based in Tokyo, that has launched a new project in April 2019 called “Ladyknows”. This project aims to empower women’s health and how they live and work. The company hosted a five-day event, “Ladyknows Fes 2019”, at Shibuya, Tokyo last week, in view of the International Day of the Girl Child. The main theme of the Ladyknows Fes is about the well-being of women. A museum, symposiums, clinic and gynecological checkup were available for participants to learn about their health through entertainment.

The main sponsor company of the event is Nippon Life Insurance Company, a major insurance carrier in Japan. Participants who have applied in advance for medical checkups can take the screening at the event. Moreover, most of the expenses are covered by the sponsor companies. Thus, the applicants can get medical checkups at low cost. And not only is the checkup inexpensive, but the clinic is filled with entertainment to make it a fun experience.

The medical checkups are combined with “beauty doc”, giving participants to check their outer vitality like sthenometry, the measurement of muscular strength, at the same time. The appearance of the clinic will be different from the traditional style too: high designability with installation art and photo spots. Participants can share their experience through social networks or print their favorite photos on printers provided on each floor of the venue.

Ninety applicants were accepted for the medical checkups. It is not surprising to hear that the application reached the limit on the day it started accepting. Bringing entertainment element to medical checkups is a new style of dealing with health and life, and undoubtedly many are showing interest. If we can refurbish the image of medical checkups away from a mandatory and cheerless duty to an exciting and enjoyable experience like this event, more people might take the initiative to participate in medical checkups and learn how to keep a healthy lifestyle.

According to a report by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, only 37.7% of women aged 20-69 who took the pap smear test in Japan in 2013, compared to 85% in the United States. Turns out, the most common reason for not taking health screenings was that they “could not find time to schedule checkups”. But what if taking general medical checkups were fun? It may motivate women to visit their doctors.

The idea can also be adapted to school education. Learning about health and body is important especially during adolescence because it is the time for growth spurts and puberty changes. However, classroom education becomes uninteresting and seem like somebody else’s problem when they are taught based on traditional textbooks. So, let’s make it entertaining and attractive for girls. Knowing and learning about your body and well-being is essential to live a healthy life. The Ladyknows Fes can give us clues on how we changes we can make in the future.