In Accra, Ghana's capital city, stands the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research. The Institute carries out the wishes of Dr. Hideo Noguchi, a man who devoted his life to the medical research of, and who himself eventually succumbed to, yellow fever. Here, medical cooperation by Japanese and Ghanaian researchers have been underway since 1968 to combat infectious diseases. The activities of the Institute include the establishment of surveillance and diagnostic technologies, researches on laboratory diagnosis of various diseases and mechanism of the pandemic of infectious diseases, as well as the training of the personnel and strengthening the Institute's functions. Notwithstanding their limited personnel and budget constraints, the staff researchers have dedicated their efforts and, therefore, their research activities have been flourishing.

The results of these efforts are not limited to the Institute, but are shared with other African countries through technical training courses. Moreover, the established technology on surveillance and diagnostic measures of infectious diseases control is anticipated to be disseminated extensively in the future, and scientific exchange programmes are also planned.

The Noguchi Institute is working on the development of anti-virus medicine , receiving financial support from the United States. The support to the Institute by Japan and the U.S. is placed as the cooperation under the "Common Agenda." The fact that such vital research is being carried on at an institute named after Dr. Noguchi, who did important research activities in the United States and died in Ghana, is certainly a moving example of cooperation among these three nations.