James Keach, a film-maker, interviews one of the eight Los Angeles schoolchildren who travelled to Kenya, as a part of a documentary about measles.

Communications

Communications activities in 2002 sought to improve the Federation’s presence in the international sphere and build additional capacity within National Societies. Internal communications were improved by publishing the Quarterly Report and by increased emphasis on communications between National Societies. These initiatives, coupled with a stronger presence on the Internet, contributed to increased awareness of National Society actions.

Breaking the silence
More than 80 National Societies joined The truth about AIDS. Pass it on... global action in 2002. Their public-awareness events gained the attention of local and regional press around the world.

The theme was also used throughout the year in speaking engagements by the president, Governing Board members, and the secretary general at the United Nations and events such as the World Conference on AIDS in Barcelona.

As a part of the campaign, two com-munications packs and three Pass it on newsletters were sent to National Societies.

For World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day on 8 May, a video entitled Living with... and speaking out focused on the work of the Kenya Red Cross in a rural community to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination.

The Federation also played a role in highlighting the meningitis crisis in Africa and the issue of the availability of vaccines with the assistance of health commission chairman Freddie Pedersen.

	World Disasters Report In its tenth year of publication, the World Disasters Report called for disaster risk reduction targets, such as halving the number of people killed and affected by disasters and increasing the number of governments with dedicated plans and resources for risk reduction programmes. The report examined preparedness and mitigation initiatives from disaster-prone countries across the globe and discussed who should take responsibility for protecting vulnerable populations from disasters, and how.

More than 400 news stories were posted on the Federation's web site. The 2002 World Disasters Report became one of the Federation's most quoted and widely used publications.

The response to the growing food crisis in southern Africa was also one of the main communications efforts in 2002. By highlighting the activities of National Societies and volunteers, both in the region and elsewhere, who responded to the crisis, the Federation was seen as a trusted and primary implementing partner.

The work of National Societies around the world was publicized including the Afghanistan Red Crescent's response to the country's severe winter and earthquake, the floods in Asia and central Europe, the socio-economic crisis in Argentina and drought in Central America.

There was also strong intra-Movement co-operation on the crisis in the Middle East as illustrated by the joint Federation and ICRC press conference and solemn appeal for ICRC delegates and Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers to be able to carry out their humanitarian mission unimpeded.

Knowledge sharing through publications in Guatemala.

A strong public image
The Federation improved its international presence in 2002 in both print and electronic media.

New design standards for all publications were implemented increasing the consistency of the Federation’s image. More than 110 publications were produced.

The Federation’s web site – www.ifrc.org – continued to show strong growth in 2002. The main development of the year was the launch in June of the site in French and Spanish, which mirror the English web site. The home page was redesigned and the online donations function was expanded.

New sections were added during the year, including health, principles and values, and a mini-site for the global HIV/AIDS anti-stigma campaign. Videos were made available online for the first time and 13 photo galleries went online.

The number of pages viewed on the web site averaged 1.4 millon pages a month in 2002, compared with 400,000 a month in 2001. Of this, the French and Spanish sites accounted for more than 5 per cent of the total hit rate.

Towards the end of the year, the video Where the streets have no name was produced portraying the daily work of the Federation and its National Societies.

The Federation and the ICRC continued to publish Red Cross, Red Crescent, the official magazine of the Movement. This quarterly publication is aimed primarily at Movement staff and volunteers, and reports on the Red Cross Red Crescent response to humanitarian issues.

The Guide for Movement Communicators, an Internet-based tool for internal training, was translated into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. Preparations were made to launch these versions in 2003.