Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Weekly Worldwide 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…

QATAR: Health professionals and other specialists from 10 different countries gathered in Doha to attend a two-week training course in the management of humanitarian aid, jointly organized by the ICRC, the Qatar Red Crescent Society and the University of Calgary – Qatar.

REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: Residents of the department of Likouala remain in a precarious situation following the massive influx in 2009 of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The ICRC is distributing farm and fishing equipment for almost 100,000 residents to ensure that food reserves will not be exhausted.

JAPAN: Red Cross and Red Crescent partners from around the world gathered in Tokyo from May 9-11 to review the response to the disaster so far and to discuss plans to aid long-term recovery. The American Red Cross has made another $30 million donation to the Japanese Red Cross, bringing its contributions to date to more than $160 million.

PAKISTAN: Pakistan Red Crescent Society workers are teaching residents about disaster preparedness in advance of the monsoon season, which last year caused massive flooding and landslides.

NAMIBIA: The Namibia Red Cross and the World Health Organization are partnering to prevent disease outbreaks during floods.

GLOSSARY:

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