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A medical outreach team is a team of four trained healthcare staff headed by a clinical officer and comprised of a nurse, a midwife and a vaccinator. Equipped with motorbikes, medicines, vaccines and basic diagnostic tools, the teams enter communities to provide primary healthcare curative and prevention services to remote populations.

In late February, boreholes were handed over to the Wun-Ajok community in South Sudan. These boreholes are part of a Canadian Red Cross program to improve survival for mothers, children and babies, and are the first sources of water in these areas. 

In early March, we had the great pleasure of hosting Nelly Tangua Tangayani, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Red Cross, and Touré Nènè Traoré, from the Mali Red Cross. They spent a week with our Communications team to discuss our respective practices and strengthen their communications capacities.

 “Although women and children have particular vulnerabilities following a disaster, they are also extremely resilient,” says Esmé Lanktree, Program Officer for Emergencies and Recovery for the Canadian Red Cross.

Last June, Catherine Sonpon came home to find her Surrey apartment building surrounded by fire trucks. The rental suite she shared with her young family had been gutted by fire.
“I remember feeling sadness and pain,” said Sonpon. “My family was safe, and material losses are not as important, but I was still sad to lose all our stuff. You never know when you may need help.”

​The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world. Here is an update on Red Cross response to flooding in Peru, delivering aid in Syria, and the drought in Africa.

With spring nearing, many of us winter-worn Canadians are looking forward to warmer temperatures. While spring is in the air, it’s still important to keep ice safety in mind, especially as milder weather affects most ice conditions.

It was early on a Sunday morning in January last winter when the message began to sound over the loudspeakers of a 17-storey apartment building on Rebecca Street in Hamilton, Ontario. Due to flooding, tenants were being asked to evacuate.