"Let yourselves go, be curious."
These simple yet powerful words capture the deeper meaning of Biofarma for a Smile, the corporate volunteering program through which employees from Biofarma Group’s Italian offices have the opportunity to actively provide support and healthcare assistance to children and families in Malagasy villages.
In July 2025, four colleagues set off for the remote south of Madagascar. With them, only the essentials: a spark of curiosity and the genuine desire to lend a hand to those who truly need it.
Thus began a journey that turned out to be much more than a professional experience, it became a profound inner path, marked by intense emotions that made it unforgettable for each of them.
The Hopitaly Vezo in Andavadoaka is one of the few institutions in the area that provides free healthcare. Today, one of its most important goals is to train, empower, and inspire new local resources.
“The mornings were intense,” shared the volunteers who took part in the project. “From 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., we handled inventory management and, side by side with doctors, pharmacists, and other volunteers, we prepared antifungal and corticosteroid creams for the patients.”
These activities were accompanied by preparing milk for malnourished children, cleaning the workspaces, and conducting nutritional screenings, an essential component in the daily fight against child malnutrition.
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Nine hours away by jeep, two more volunteers took part in the Oral Care Project, a valuable awareness campaign on oral hygiene aimed at local communities, carried out alongside pharmacist Michele Sari. This year, the initiative was strengthened and expanded through its integration with efforts to combat malnutrition, which became the core focus of their fieldwork.
Through nutritional screening and monitoring activities, the volunteers made a meaningful contribution to an essential service for safeguarding health and reducing the area’s high mortality rate.
“We were able to engage a large number of children, about twenty each afternoon.”
A simple gesture, yet one of great significance, in a context where prevention and education can truly make a difference.
When asked, “What did you take home with you?” they answered in unison:
“The energy of the people. Despite everything.”
An energy captured in countless photographs and images that froze time and told the story of colorful, precious moments from this extraordinary journey that Biofarma began in 2016.
A silent yet powerful tribute to life itself, one that resonates deeply and reminds us how every moment, when fully embraced, can become unforgettable.
