International (Page 11)

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. 

In 2018 alone, roughly 2.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes in communities across Ethiopia because of ongoing conflict. Read about three mothers who are doing what it takes for their families, despite the difficult conditions they find themselves in. 

In Mali, most infant deaths are associated with diseases that can be treated with medication. What kills babies, among other things, is that these diseases are often detected too late. Why? There are a number of reasons, but in Koulikoro, in the villages where the Red Cross team is working, one of the biggest reasons seems to have to do with tradition.

Since August 25, 2017, more than 700,000 people have fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State for Bangladesh. Dealing with a protracted crisis such as this is a complex operation, one that involves a host of different organizations. Effective coordination in the response is essential to ensure that supporting those most in need of humanitarian assistance remains the number one objective.

In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, many families and individuals in Haiti had their livelihoods destroyed overnight. Severe damage to both the agricultural and fisheries sectors meant the majority of the population lost their primary sources of income. In addition to these challenges, poor households in Haiti allocate a high percentage of their budget to energy expenditures, especially when they use poor-quality and energy-inefficient equipment.