Transporting health material to local associations, schools and health centres in remote and desert areas of Morocco to improve the health and well-being of the local population, challenging gender bias in the automotive sector: these are the main objectives of the Farmaraiders project. It is an action promoted in 2019 by Eric Menéndez and Guille Pascual, which has encouraged students, alumni and former students of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the University of Barcelona to get involved.
With the support of the Faculty, this solidarity project combines the values of health cooperation and the spirit of adventure on the African continent, delivering more than 1,000 kilograms of health and pharmaceutical supplies by vehicle to desert areas of Morocco with major public health deficits. At the same time, it has also contributed to managing the solidarity material for UniRaid, a motorized crossing of the Moroccan desert on an eight-day itinerary through the most spectacular places on the old Paris-Dakar route.
Under this action, the participants are developing magistral formulas adapted to the needs and have promoted the translation of medicine package leaflets into Arabic and French. They are also working with the Zaouit Amel'Kids association with school kits, and have established an agreement with the local health delegation and the Spanish Society of Individualized Medicines (LASEMI) that will open up new opportunities for cooperation throughout the 'Errachidia health region.
Farmaraiders is an educational student initiative that also wants to call on women in healthcare to break down gender barriers in motor racing. In the 2025 campaign, the team will have twenty pharmacy students and alumni to transport more than 3,500 kilograms of health material in ten cars and two vans of the UniRaid organization. Thirteen students and representatives of the faculty who have joined the solidarity challenge will take part in this action, reinforcing the role of women in these initiatives.
