International 11

For those of us who are fans of the show, Game of Thrones can create some internal conflict. We love watching the characters, but sometimes their actions can be so... hard to watch! Some Red Cross superfans found a perfect way to reconcile their humanitarian spirit and love for the show. To mark the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, Australian Red Cross has analyzed every previous episode to reveal the television epic’s worst war criminal.
 

When the Canadian Red Cross field hospital cholera treatment centre opened in Nhamatanda, Mozambique on Thursday, Elisa Armando was one of the first into the tent. Elisa, 19, brought her three-year-old son Joaquim who had diarrhea and was throwing up.
The international team of doctors and nurses from Finland, Mozambique, Canada and Israel, worked to get fluids into Joaquim.

Thanks to the generosity of the government of Canada and Canadians donating to the Cyclone Idai appeal, Canadian Red Cross has sent its emergency field hospital to Mozambique. The hospital will be staffed by 25 Canadian aid workers, including doctors, nurses and technicians. They will help alleviate the tremendous strain that has been placed on local services and health professionals who have been working non-stop to provide urgent care.

Despite tremendous efforts from healthcare providers, death is a natural and expected part of epidemics. But because of the infectious nature of Ebola, this does leave a logistical issue – how do we bury the dead, someone’s loved one - in a way that is respectful but also protects against more people becoming ill?
 

Last week, a devestating cyclone made landfall in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. The powerful Cyclone Idai has caused flooding, damaged infrastructure, crops, and homes. The Red Cross is responding, ready to provide aid to those who need it. 

With constant access to information, it can be easy to assume that we are getting a full picture of what is going on in the world. But there are stories that rarely make headlines, and when those stories impact millions of people they can represent an emergency.

Chicken pox is a common and generally low risk illness, but overcrowded conditions in large makeshift settlements in Bangladesh means the disease is able to spread rapidly.  With over 34,500 cases of the disease reported since December, the worry is that this illness risks compounding many other vulnerabilities of the people who live here.

A successful project, like solar-powered water pumps, relies not just on aid workers, but community members who work closely with them.