International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Dr Mukesh Kapila, Special Representative of the Secretary General for HIV, International Federation
In the neighbourhood of Mabopane, a suburb of the South African capital Pretoria, she is known as “Auntie Elizabeth”. This 37-year-old woman single-handedly looks after the five children left behind by her sister – who died of AIDS in 2003. One of the children is living with HIV. Elizabeth is alone in having to care fo
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Jean-Luc Martinage, International Federation
Dressed in her Cameroon Red Cross peer educator T-shirt, Hortense is an elegant 30-year-old woman. She attracts everyone s attention at the start of the evening s activities in the small room at La confiance , a modest health centre in Emombo district, not far from the centre of the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde. To
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Communities must be at the forefront of the fight against HIV and tackling gender inequalities must be at the centre of our efforts, says the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on World AIDS Day. The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 is leadership . This is not just for governments, health pro
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Jean-Luc Martinage, International Federation
Nkol Eton secondary school in Yaounde is one of the Cameroonian capital s leading schools. The city-centre school has a good reputation. It is also one of the largest schools in Yaounde, with 3,500 pupils aged between 16 and 18. In the playground we meet Clementine Ngono and Achille Nnomo, the two main members of the F
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Anita Swarup in Nairobi
The added nutritional value of vegetables which contains vitamins and minerals is important when taking anti-retroviral medication used to treat people living with HIV. In Kenya , the diet mainly consists of starch and carbohydrates which do not have enough vitamins. Vegetables not only help neutralize the side effects
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Jean-Luc Martinage, International Federation
South Africa is at the centre of the HIV pandemic, which affects at least 12.3 million people throughout the Southern African region. Anyone walking the streets of Mabopane, a medium-sized town on the outskirts of the city of Pretoria, the South Africa capital, is struck by the abundance of funeral homes, a flourishi
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Jean-Luc Martinage, International Federation
Sushanguve is one of many towns on the outskirts of Pretoria, the South African capital. Just a few hundred metres from the new buildings and shopping centres that are springing up in the area is Extension 10 , a succession of humble wooden and corrugated iron shacks that stretches as far as the eye can see, bordered b
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Jean-Luc Martinage, International Federation
Children are one of the groups hardest hit by the HIV pandemic, which is particularly rife in southern Africa. Around 4.6 million children in the region have already lost their parents to the pandemic. In many rural areas, entire villages have been decimated. Very often, only the children remain - and they are sometime
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Tapiwa Gomo, International Federation
The harvest was poor this year because of erratic rains, says 82-year-old Godfrey Mwila. I am getting tired now but I am left with little choice but to work in the field. Mr Mwila has no choice because he is responsible for five great grandchildren. Living in Kapiri Mposhi, about 200 kilometres north west of Lusaka in
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 19, 2007
Participants to the 17th session of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies General Assembly, which will be held in Geneva from 20 to 22 November, under the theme Together for Humanity , are facing a full agenda. Climate change and its humanitarian impact, recurrent diseases, urban violence
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 12, 2007
Francis Markus, International Federation in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
As the contestants in Mongolia s first drag queen beauty contest sashay across the nightclub floor, there are whoops of delight from the audience. The event aims to increase awareness of HIV among Mongolia s community of men who have sex with men (MSM). The show has been organized by Youth for Health, a gay men s group
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - August 24, 2007
Patrick Fuller
As the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (8th ICAAP) draws to a close, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has renewed its pledge to increase the number of people covered by its HIV programmes worldwide by at least 100 per cent. The pledge is in line with target
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - 8 June 2007
Red Cross National Societies in the Americas have pledged to intensify their efforts in order to better protect communities from disasters, ensure adequate access to health care and prevent discrimination against vulnerable groups, including migrants and people living with HIV. At the end of a four-day regional confere
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - 7 June 2007
In 1999 Decky Octavianus, then just 17, went into rehab to kick his drug habit. The treatment worked, and as he left the clinic he was handed his blood tests. HIV+. His reaction? So stressed. Better to take an overdose now than die of AIDS. I ll never get married, have children, I ll lose all my friends. I started usin
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - 29 May 2007
Helena Laatio, of the International Federation, in Baganur, Mongolia
The sight of the prison dormitory is disturbing. The faces of young men, aged between 18 and 30, stare out from a long wall of crowded compartments. Most of them are being held on multiple convictions, mainly for theft and burglaries, but also for murder. The shortest prison term here is five years, but nearly half of
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - 24 May 2007
In a series of commitments adopted at the closing of their 7th Regional Conference, 50 European Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies promised to protect, assist and support vulnerable migrants and re-asserted their right to access all people in need, irrespective of their legal status. National Societies have decided t
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - 21 May 2007
At the start of seventh Regional Conference of European Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Istanbul a consensus has quickly emerged that migration and health and care issues are top of political and humanitarian agendas all over the world. Solutions had to be devised with other partners. We can no longer address t
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - 18 May 2007
Migration and inadequate access to health care are two of the biggest challenges facing European nations, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Representatives from more than 50 European Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies will meet in Istanbul, Turkey , from 20
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - 11 April 2007
In 2007, the Empress Shôken Fund will grant over 460,000 Swiss francs ($378,00 USD/281,000 Euros) to 11 projects carried out by Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around the globe. A special emphasis is being placed on African initiatives, which will receive around a third of this year s grants. The awarded
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - April 2, 2007
Amit Kumar of the International Federation in Delhi
Some 5.2 million people in India are living with HIV but many are left isolated and untreated because of stigma and misconceptions about the disease. The Indian Red Cross is therefore working to ensure that people living with HIV have access to information, care and medical support. At the same time, the National Socie
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 27, 2007
Ilkka Pohjalainen in Dakar
The National Society of the Senegalese Red Cross has some 2700 volunteers. Now a hundred of them have been trained and sent to the villages in the areas of Thies and Bour, two hours drive from the capital Dakar. They are involved in a child health survey project called Child Diseases and Prevention focusing on children
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 23, 2007
Presentation by Lady Keith, chair of the IFRC working group on substance abuse, at the International High Level Think Tank on Drug Policy, convened by the Italian Red Cross, in Rome [The presentation began with introductory remarks addressed to the members of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies present in the Think Ta
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 22, 2007
Scientific seminar in European Parliament today will outline key challenges Germany to host European Ministerial Forum in October to speed action The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are calling upon governments in Easter
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 22, 2007
By providing increased access to tuberculosis treatment to vulnerable groups across the world, and ensuring higher treatment completion, Red Cross and Red Crescent community-based programmes play a key role in global tuberculosis control, says the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Two su
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 22, 2007
Claire Doole in Kokshetau
Sholpan Gabdesh carefully unpacks the heavy parcels that Valentina Syrovyatkina, a Kazakh Red Crescent nurse, has carried up to her fourth floor flat on a bleak estate in the northern Kazakh town of Kokshetau, some 300 km from the Russian border. It is the 59 year-old s last delivery, as Sholpan is coming to the end of
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 21, 2007
The consumption of water and the generation of human wastes are such commonplace aspects of human life that planning for their appropriate use or removal may be overlooked. There is ample evidence to show that failure to ensure an adequate supply of uncontaminated water or to arrange for safe disposal of excreta, as we
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 14, 2007
Statement by Lady Keith, chair of the IFRC working group on substance abuse, at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, in Vienna The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies asked for the floor under item of the agenda - the follow-up to the 1998 twentieth special session of the General Assembly f
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - February 27, 2007
Claire Doole in Temirtau
Kazakhstan has the fastest growing HIV rate in Central Asia, fuelled by drug trafficking from Afghanistan into Russia . Since 2004, the Red Crescent has mobilized thousands of volunteers to spread the HIV prevention message to drug users, sex workers and the communities most at risk.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - February 27, 2007
Patrick Fuller, Communications Coordinator, International Federation, Sri Lanka
Thirty two year-old Thuvilselvi is a fourth generation tea plucker. She has spent most of her life plucking the tea bushes of Mahagastota Estate in Sri Lanka s highland district of Nuwera Eliya. Her worn hands reveal a hard life. From eight to five, in sunshine or rain, she balances on the terraces reaching for the cho
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - February 23, 2007
Magdalena Slastushinskaya
A programme to help high-risk groups protect themselves from HIV infection has proven increasingly successful thanks to the commitment of nine volunteers from the Krasnodar branch of the Russian Red Cross who have overcome secrecy and suspicion to reach out to people in real need. In February 2006, the Krasnodar branch
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - February 19, 2007
Ali Hakimi
As the snow falls on Kabul, around 70 volunteers from the Afghanistan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) walk through the streets, carrying banners and posters that say Come Closer and Protect yourself from this century s plague . The group is working to draw public attention to the International Federation s anti-discriminat
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - January 30, 2007
Tackling the humanitarian challenges posed by climate change and scaling up the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa will be two of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies main objectives in 2007. The organization s annual appeal, which seeks 358 million Swiss francs ($285 million USD/ €220 mil
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - January 26, 2007
Mubashir Fida, Pakistan Delegation information officer
When the President of Pakistan publicly congratulates a person living with HIV for her work in combating the disease, then something is going right with HIV/AIDS awareness in a country that typically shunned the issue in the past. Mother-of-two, Shukriya Gul, recently received an award, along with other Pakistan Red Cr
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