International (Page 37)

By now you have probably heard about the Zika virus, an infection which is spread mainly through mosquito bites, that is currently spreading in Central and South America, as well as Mexico.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Zika virus an international health emergency. 

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

Nicolas Gauvin, a shelter and infrastructure advisor with the Canadian Red Cross, discusses potential sources of clean drinking water in Gogrial, South Sudan with colleagues from the South Sudan Red Cross and community members. 

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

In Gambia, one of Africa's smallest countries, rain-fed subsistence agriculture is the main livelihood for the majority of its population of just under two million people.  An especially poor rainfall in 2011-12 resulted in the majority of the Gambian population not having enough to eat. The Red Cross responded to this emergency with the support of the Government of Canada. A “twin-track approach” was used which ensures people have the food for immediate survival, as well as a supply of good quality seed and fertilizer to meet future needs.

Last weekend the Feast of the Nazarene was held in Manila. This annual religious gathering, which features one of the biggest processions in the country, saw close to 10 million people participating.  Our colleagues at the Philippine Red Cross were kept busy on the scene, where they had set up their emergency field hospital.

Like the rest of Haiti, the Jacmel community was left reeling after the January 12, 2010 earthquake devastated the country. This community of 40,000, capital of the Sud-Est department of Haiti, suffered significant damage to many buildings, including an estimated 70% of homes and the county hospital Saint Michel a Jacmel. Given that a strong and functional major health care facility is vitally important to both short-term and long-term recovery efforts, the reconstruction of Saint Michel Hospital was considered an essential task.

On December 29, 2015 Guinea became the latest country to be declared free of new Ebola cases! This announcement is an exciting milestone in beating the Ebola epidemic that began in March 2014.