The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
CHINA: An earthquake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, has devastated thousands in Lushan, China. The Red Cross
Society of China has dispatched thousands of tents, quilts, jackets, and other food and non-food items to the disaster area and have also started providing psychosocial support. The Red Cross Society of China has said it plans to focus particular attention on the needs of vulnerable children and elderly in this region, where migration of working-age adults to work has become a way of life. The Canadian Red Cross is currently accepting donations to support Red Cross relief and recovery efforts in China - click here to make a donation.
INDIA: As part of World Immunization Week, the Indian Red Cross Society can be proud of its contribution to reducing avoidable child deaths. On April 23, in Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, the government of India completed its measles catch-up program (phase III), vaccinating approximately 80,000 children over the past weeks. The Red Cross has been playing a key role in ensuring many parents bring their children for vaccination. Indian Red Cross Society does not provide the vaccinations or administer them; this is left to the authorities and trained medical personnel. Instead, volunteers, most of whom are young students, carry out social and community mobilization activities, such as door-to-door visits and street theatre performances. They engage communities in a dialogue about the importance of vaccination and try to achieve as close to 100 per cent coverage as possible.