Health and care activities in the IFRC include first aid and emergency response as well as epidemic control, programmes in health promotion and prevention, addressing stigma, providing psychosocial care and enabling community empowerment.
Health and care activities in the IFRC include first aid and emergency response as well as epidemic control, programmes in health promotion and prevention, addressing stigma, providing psychosocial care and enabling community empowerment.
Around the world, hundreds of thousands of volunteers work in communities to promote health, prevent diseases and demonstrate positive values through their actions. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and its National Societies actively support communities through their network of volunteers, their community-based approach, their expertise and experience.
The past decade has seen major gains towards improving global health. Today, less people die of measles or malaria and the number of new HIV-infections has been stabilized in some countries.
At the same time, implementing primary health care at the community level remains a challenge:
- Worldwide, an estimated 14 million people continue to die each year from infectious diseases. Many more suffer from malnutrition and disruption of livelihood
- More than 1 billion people don’t have access to safe water
- 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation.
- More than 500,000 women die each year in pregnancy or childbirth and still too many children die before their fifth birthday.
This situation will get worse because of global trends such as climate change, population growth and ageing, urbanisation, migration, food and water shortages, poverty, emergent diseases and the lack of access to health services.
Recent additions to the resources library
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is in the grips of its worst-ever Ebola outbreak, and the second largest ever after the 2014 West Africa outbreak. The current outbreak which began on 1 August has spread to 23 health zones in North Kivu …
One month after the worst disaster in Mozambique’s recent history, signs of recovery are beginning to emerge as people return home and as the deadly cholera outbreak appears to be starting to abate. Since Cyclone Idai made landfall, Mozambique Red Cros …
Venezuela has faced several challenges in recent years. In 2019 there is an urgent need for immediate humanitarian action to strengthen the provision of health care and other vital sectors such as water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, food safety an …
Health in Action
World First Aid Day
The IFRC is the largest first aid educator and provider in the world. In 2014, over 15 million people were trained, and for more than 150 years, first aid has provided by our volunteers.
In focus: Ebola
During the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak, Red Cross teams worked with community leaders to ensure families knew about how the virus is spread, what the symptoms are, and the importance of early treatment.
World Water Day
Water, sanitation and good hygiene practices are fundamental to healthy life. Our collective aim is to ensure every family has affordable and sustainable access to safe water and adequate sanitation.
Health news
Mary Lewis is poised… It’s one of the first things that you notice about her, aside from other obvious physical characteristics like her bright, beautiful smile.
Catchy, melodic and accompanied by the sweet sounds of steelpan it sounds like the beginnings of an interesting calypso but a conversation with the singer reveals that it is much more than that.
The Grenada Red Cross is working in thirty-two communities in Grenada to educate the population and raise awareness about mosquito-borne diseases like Zika, dengue and chikungunya.
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