The
Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
INDONESIA: Every year, together with the Indonesia Red Cross (PMI), the ICRC assists communities in remote provinces like Papua, by restoring eyesight for patients suffering from cataracts and other eye problems. This year, for the first time since the program started in 2006, teams went to the Buru Islands in Maluku Province where access to healthcare remains limited, and untreated cataracts are a major cause of blindness.
GREECE: Chios and Samos are two of the islands that since last summer have seen tens of thousands of people arrive on their shores in search of safety. When numbers peaked in the autumn, the Spanish Red Cross stepped in with medical staff and experts in psychosocial support to support the Hellenic Red Cross (HRC)and 66,000 migrants. Over four months from October 2015, clinics manned by Spanish Red Cross medics and HRC volunteers treated thousands of patients awaiting registration on both islands. In addition, specialised staff and volunteers supported children from being further traumatized by providing safe spaces where they could draw, play and interact. The Spanish Red Cross has now donated both clinics and the child-friendly spaces on Samos and Chios to its HRC colleagues who will continue to provide the vital services with specialists from Greece.