January 2014 (Page 29)

Natural disasters like storms, earthquakes and floods make news around the world, but health emergencies are silently affecting hundreds of millions of lives every year. The recent Ebola outbreak in Guinea—which the Red Cross is working to help contain—is a rare example of public health emergencies becoming global news. One of the most silent, and rapidly growing, health emergencies in the spread of dengue fever, a disease spread by mosquitos.

“Silent disasters” are emergencies that go unnoticed and unreported. They are also known as neglected crisis. You don’t hear about them because they don’t make headlines in most parts of the world. In fact, about 91 per cent of disasters worldwide are classified as silent.

The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.

We wanted to share this video footage of the recent visit to Syria by Canadian Red Cross Secretary General and CEO, Conrad Sauvé, and Director of Emergencies and Recovery for International Operations, Hossam Elsharkawi. The Canadian Red Cross has been providing support to its sister society, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), as it continues to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to people affected by the on-going conflict.

Conrad Sauvé, Canadian Red Cross Secretary General and CEO, and Hossam Elsharkawi, Director of Emergencies and Recovery for International Operations, were in Syria last week to learn, first-hand, about the work of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) in that country.