Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

CENTRAL/EASTERN EUROPE: Parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Serbia, Romania and Russia have been gripped by wind, heavy snow and temperatures as low as -26°F. Over 80 people have died from hypothermia and frostbite, and the chill has caused power outages, traffic chaos and the closure of schools and nurseries. Red Cross Societies have been working around the clock to meet the basic needs of the affected people with hot meals, warm clothing and blankets.

MEXICO: Drug related violence in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez (on the US border) has put health care in danger, risking the lives of medical staff and often preventing patients from getting the treatment they need. The ICRC has been working with the Mexican Red Cross on improving safety for their volunteers and staff, developing a specific protocol to respond to emergencies by confirming that police are at the scene, the victim is alive and needs pre-hospital care.

FIJI: Severe flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains on Fiji’s largest island of Viti Levu have forced thousands from their homes to seek safety in evacuation centers. Staff and volunteers of the Fiji Red Cross Society have been responding to the immediate needs of many of those displaced and has started distributing emergency relief items to over 3,000 people in 74 evacuation centers and communities isolated by the floods.

IRAQ: The new Nasiriya physical rehabilitation center opened this week and will be capable of treating 500 patients a year, providing them with artificial limbs and rehabilitation services. The ICRC has built the center in coordination with Iraqi health authorities, and it is the second physical rehabilitation center built by ICRC water and sanitation engineers in Iraq following completion of the Falluja center in 2008. 35,000 people with a disability have benefited from ICRC-supported physical rehabilitation services in Iraq since 1993.


GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

EAST TIMOR: A team of well-trained Red Cross Volunteers recently helped with a horrific collision in regional East Timor. Four people died and almost 20 more were seriously injured when a troop carrier crashed two hours south of the capital, Dili. Nurses and doctors at the local hospital in Aileu were overwhelmed by the size of the emergency and Cruz Vermelha de Timor-Leste volunteers stepped-in to help. For eight years, the organization has received funding and training support from the Japanese Red Cross and the IFRC.

IRAQ: People in rural Iraq are among the most severely affected by seemingly never-ending violence, the lack of economic perspectives and of appropriate infrastructure. The ICRC is helping needy farmers increase their production in a sustainable way, and since September has provided some 900 farmers in Diyala, Baghdad, Wassit, Babil and Anbar governorates with drip irrigation systems benefiting over 6,300 people. Since the beginning of the year, almost 42,000 people, mainly in rural areas of central Iraq, have been given a boost by ICRC livelihood support projects.

LIBYA: More than 100 surgeons are enhancing their skills treating gunshot and blast-wounded patients through a seminar in Tripoli this week. The training is being co-organized by ICRC and the Ministry of Health. The ICRC conducted similar workshops in Benghazi, Tripoli and the Nefusa Mountains earlier in 2011.

INDONESIA: The ICRC has recently completed a mass scabies treatment program at the Labuhan Deli Prison in Medan, North Sumatra, working with the Indonesian Directorate General of Corrections. Scabies is a contagious skin disease caused by tiny, invisible mites that spreads easily in crowded surroundings such as at prisons. The campaign benefited 908 inmates, who had been living with scabies for years.

NIGERIA: Many children in Nigeria miss school or find it hard to concentrate because of the little talked of illnesses caused by worms. The Mushin division of the Nigerian Red Cross Society is tackling this by distributing de-worming tablets and teaching students about the importance of taking them regularly. So far 35 Red Cross volunteers have targeted 84 primary schools and provided tablets to over 22,000 children.



GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

MALDIVES: Last week the Maldivian Red Crescent became the 187th member of the IFRC at its 18th General Assembly in Geneva. The process of forming the new National Society began in the wake of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which affected over 27,000 people in the Maldives. These low-lying islands will be among the most threatened territories should sea levels rise significantly.

YEMEN: Two ICRC staff members and a Yemen Red Crescent Society volunteer who had been briefly held by armed individuals in a village in Lahj governorate, southern Yemen, returned to Aden. On November 22nd, they left to distribute food rations and essential household items to displaced people in Lahj, but were prevented from returning to their office. The ICRC was in regular contact with them after the incident occurred, and contacted the authorities and other leaders in the area to request their assistance in arranging for the prompt return.

NIGER: The ICRC is providing support for a major immunization campaign against meningitis that began last week in the Agadez area of northern Niger. The ICRC is supporting the campaign in the districts of Arlit and Tchirozérine, where over 58,000 people aged one to 29 will be vaccinated by the first week in December.

IRAQ: Over the past two weeks the ICRC, in a joint Iranian-Iraqi operation, found the remains of 103 Iranian and Iraqi soldiers in Al-Fao, southern Iraq, who went missing during the 1980-1988 war between the two countries. In its capacity as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC provides support for the efforts of the Iranian and Iraqi authorities to account for those who went missing during the war and to ease the suffering of their families.

SOMALILAND (SOMALIA): While Southern and Central Somalia carry the brunt of the East Africa food crisis, Somaliland has not escaped the effects of recurrent droughts and political violence. At the newly-established Sheikh Omar Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp, the Somalia Red Crescent has been working to recruit volunteers and distribute relief items provided by the Icelandic Red Cross from its clothing business.


GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies