International 12

For the last ten years, armed conflicts and violence has caused an unprecedented level of human suffering in places like Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. The Red Cross and Red Crescent is on the ground, providing impartial and life-saving aid to those who are caught in these conflicts - including surgical care. 

Read about the 2018 World Disaster Report, which examines those who are not being reached with critical humanitarian assistance, and how they can receive aid.
 

More than 30 years ago, Dr. Praphan Phanuphak diagnosed the first three cases of HIV in Thailand. It was February of 1985, and he was 35-years-old at the time. He was working at a hospital run by Thai Red Cross at. Four years after those first few cases, he co-founded the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre, where he stills works today as its director. 

The Canadian Red Cross is working with the Honduran Red Cross to help build their capacity as part of the CERA program. This program, with support from the Government of Canada, means that the Honduran Red Cross will be better prepared to respond to disasters and emergencies. Here are some ways the program is making a difference in Honduras.

In Mali, every year between July and September, heavy rains fall across the country. Some regions, such as Sikasso, are hit harder than others and the damage goes far beyond material goods. Families are left homeless, flooded areas quickly become breeding grounds for diseases such as malaria, which is a leading cause of death in children under five. One of the essential roles of Red Cross volunteers is to support people affected by disasters.

Tamara Begin, a medical logistician from Canada, shares her experience working at the Red Cross Red Crescent field hospital near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The field hospital opened one year ago, to provide health care to the more than 700,000 people who fled violence in neighbouring Myanmar. 

Red Crosser Joanne Abshire looks back on Typhoon Haiyan, and how she chose to help following the disaster. Now a member of the Red Cross, Joanne looks at how we are still working in the Philippines. 

In the early days of a disaster, Red Cross communications aid workers are under immense pressure to respond. These early days are also a key time for communications aid workers to reach the media to harness the public’s attention and increase donations, which have a big impact on the disaster assistance that the Red Cross can provide. That’s why the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) held its first-ever international emergency communications training in Finland in September.