Opinion pieces

7 جمادى الأولى 1434

Sanitation crisis: It’s time to talk about the solutions

Toilets are something that people are often embarrassed to talk about, making it easy to ignore. Now, while for most of us, finding a bathroom or toilet isn’t hard, ...

17 ربيع الثاني 1434

Eradicating polio – the last mile is in sight

Breaking community barriers to achieve Polio eradication is vital Never before has the world been so close to eradicating polio, a terrible disease that can paralyze a...

9 ربيع الثاني 1434

What silent disasters are saying

By Kristalina Georgieva , Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, European Commission Bekele Geleta , Secretary General,...

5 صفر 1434

COP18: Breakthrough or Empty Deal? The People's Perspective

This month, over 17,000 delegates gathered in the Qatari capital Doha to attend the 18th Conference of Parties (COP18), the annual UN summit on Climate Change. Amongs...

5 صفر 1434

International Migration Day: better protections needed for migrants as global recession begins to bite

18/12/2012 Geneva - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is today marking International Migration Day and is renewing its appeal...

3 ذو الحجة 1433

الاستثمار في أفريقيا

عندما نتأمل في مسألة المعونات الدولية المقدمة لأفريقيا في السنوات الأخيرة تبرز لنا ثلاثة اتجاهات عريضة. أولها هو النجاحات الملحوظة في المؤشرات الأساسية للصحة، ولا سيما...

30 ذو القعدة 1433

Looking Back - The Tyranny of Hunger

For many people, hunger is nothing new; it’s often just a part of life’s daily grind.

26 ذو القعدة 1433

Refining the social contract for health to build on the Millennium Development Goals

The social contract for health stems from our mutual responsibility to alleviate poverty and misery.

24 رمضان 1433

Iranian Red Crescent delegation seized in Libya

On the occasion of the Iranian Red Crescent’s visit to Geneva on August 9th, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) wishes to...

6 رمضان 1433

Existing drugs laws are harmful to individuals, communities and countries

by Dr Stefan Seebacher, head of the health department, International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, IFRC and Dr Rick Lines, executive director, Ha...

5 شعبان 1433

Rio+20 - Red Cross Red Crescent urges investment in resilience and women

One message rings loud and true as Rio +20 comes to a close: we must listen to and invest in people’s abilities to bring about long lasting development in their...

23 رجب 1433

One Thousand Critical days - Community-based innovative solutions to increased health equity and improved maternal and child health

Mr Bekele Geleta, Secretary General and Madame Goli Ameri, Undersecretary General, Humanitarian Values and Diplomacy, International Federation of Red Cross and Red...

1 رجب 1433

65th WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY - Prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases

Statement by Dr Ayham Alomari, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Ladies and gentlemen, Distinguished guests, Thank you for the opportuni...

25 جمادى الثانية 1433

Statement on the occasion of the International Day against Transphobia and Homophobia

On the occasion of the International Day against Transphobia and Homophobia (17 May), the Red Cross Red Crescent reminds stakeholders all over the world that the value...

19 جمادى الثانية 1433

WEF Africa 2012: Ethiopia coming into the light on the world stage

When I was a young boy growing up in a rural village in western Ethiopia, famine gripped my country. In 1984, when I became the secretary-general of the Ethiopian ...

17 جمادى الثانية 1433

لرئيسي اللجنة الدولية للصليب الأحمر والاتحاد الدولي لجمعيات الصليب الأحمر والهلال الأحمر

اليوم، في الفلبين، يقوم الشباب الذين طالما انقلبت حياتهم رأساً على عقب بسبب الأعاصير المتكررة بغرس أشجار المنغروف لحماية البيوت من الأضرار التي تلحقها بها العواصف وحما...

3 جمادى الثانية 1433

Malaria: Winning the fight. Investing to save lives and sustain gains

It is a story that shows us what is possible when individuals and communities at all level work in partnership to scale up and sustain innovative operational ...

12 ربيع الثاني 1433

Learning from Fukushima - One Year Anniversary

By Tadateru Konoe From an early age, tiny Japanese children are taught to put cushions on their heads and burrow under their school desks in the event of an earthquake...

6 ربيع الثاني 1433

Syrian Arab Red Crescent response

Statement in support of the SARC by President Tadateru Konoé and Bekele Geleta, Secretary General, IFRC

15 ربيع الأول 1433

From humanitarian aid to conflict resolution in North Kenya

by Alexander Matheou, Regional Representative for East Africa Over forty thousand people have fled their homes in Moyale, northern Kenya. They have fled from raids th...

26 ذو الحجة 1432

The Horn of Africa deserves our commitment even when the drought has passed

Throughout October and into November, good rains have reached much of the arid lands of the Horn of Africa, and it is now possible to talk about the end of the drought.

22 ذو الحجة 1432

Weather extremes and disaster: betting with the odds

Statement from Bekele Geleta, Secretary General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Poker players like to say that if you 'bet with the...

16 ذو القعدة 1432

Building resilience to drought is key to reducing dependence on food aid

Throughout this autumn, in Addis Ababa, Nairobi and capitals across the world, the Heads of East African governments have committed to eradicating drought emergencies,

15 ذو القعدة 1432

Why the world’s youth are key to reducing the impact of disasters

This year alone, we have witnessed disasters on an unprecedented scale - the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan, devastating floods in Pakistan and Australia, ...

24 شوال 1432

A world of hunger amid plenty

Among the ever-widening range of critical issues facing us today, few keep me awake at night more than one of the oldest and most persistent: hunger.

21 شوال 1432

Prevention is an urgent priority in tackling the global epidemic of Non-Communicable Diseases

With the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, infectious diseases and their impact on humankind have become a major preoccupation for the public, governments ...

7 رمضان 1432

Don’t blame it on the rain

Is the Horn of Africa facing the worst drought in sixty years? Perhaps. Yet, in recent decades, many things have changed in the region, and the underlying causes of ...

26 شعبان 1432

Preparing for Disasters: Our Collective Responsibilities

“It’s not enough to respond to disasters, we must reduce their impact and get people out of harm’s way” says Nilofar Bakhtiar, Chairperson, Pakistan Red Crescent Society

25 شعبان 1432

Horn of Africa: A letter from Turkana, northern Kenya

Aid agencies typically use malnutrition rates of 15 per cent to define an emergency. In parts of Turkana in Northern Kenya, the rates are 37 per cent.

7 شعبان 1432

The birth of a new nation poses challenges for internal and international partnerships

We are on the verge of seeing the birth of a new African nation, one that will have emerged through the will of its people.

4 شعبان 1432

Politics, war, migration: the anatomy of a humanitarian crisis

By Alexander Matheou Another drought has hit the Horn of Africa, but we need to look beyond the lack of rain to find the reasons why these long, dry seasons become...

7 رجب 1432

AIDS and human rights: a test of a humane society

The international community meets this month to review progress and agree how to continue to tackle the global AIDS response.

1 رجب 1432

Early warning, delayed response?

Is providing food during a drought always the right course of action? It’s a familiar question to humanitarians the world over, and there’s no clear answer.

10 جمادى الثانية 1432

Mediterranean tragedies highlight the need to safeguard the rights and requirements of migrants

Matthias Schmale, Under Secretary General for Development, International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent (IFRC). The International Federation of Red...

7 جمادى الثانية 1432

Disasters are not a department: to reduce risk, we must empower communities

“Do something!” This simple message is the first one that governments hear when terrible events such as the earthquakes in Japan and Haiti appear in the news.

18 جمادى الأولى 1432

Humanitarian work and technological disasters

For many years, it was said that the next Chernobyl would be Chernobyl. The creaking sarcophagus seemed to be the world’s biggest risk of a civilian nuclear accident.

17 جمادى الأولى 1432

Malaria: Real progress through real partnership

By Bekele Geleta, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) The global community has made real progress in the...

10 جمادى الأولى 1432

A challenge to the imagination, an appeal to the conscience

On 11 March, a massive earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, struck Japan’s Sanriku coast. Then came the tsunami, cresting at more than 38 metres high and ...

18 ربيع الثاني 1432

Towards a world free of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis kills 15 people every hour. Between now and 2015, more than 10 million people will die from a disease that is both preventable and curable.

Stefan Seebacher, Head of the health department. Photo: IFRC

17 ربيع الثاني 1432

The world’s water woes and the urban divide

Water shortages in the world are nothing new, but access to water and improved sanitation has now become one of the biggest challenges for urban settings where 50 ...

8 صفر 1432

Haiti – paving the road to a better future

Bekele Geleta, Secretary General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies In Haiti today, one year after a deadly quake struck, as many as 1...

23 ذو الحجة 1431

Move the AIDS issue to the top of the Indonesian agenda

OVER the last five years, Indonesia has seen a sharp rise in HIV prevalence.

23 ذو الحجة 1431

Water: a human right still enjoyed by too few

Clean drinking water is a commodity that many of us take for granted.

23 ذو الحجة 1431

OPINION: Tackling health inequities in the Americas

On the face of it, the people of Latin America are getting healthier.

23 ذو الحجة 1431

Southern Africa's axis of evils

When more than 14 million people faced the threat of famine last year, a pre-emptive intervention with food aid began that by February 2003 had averted mass ...

23 ذو الحجة 1431

Putting principles into practice - the key to legitimacy

The humanitarian ethic is about saving the lives of those in greatest need.

23 ذو الحجة 1431

Why Chinas floods just cant be shrugged off

Statistics tend to put people off.

23 ذو الحجة 1431

World must learn to prepare as well as repair

Disasters discriminate.

23 ذو الحجة 1431

Breaking down the barriers of stigma

In 1984, France and the United States officially announced the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS.

23 ذو الحجة 1431

The changing face of humanitarian aid

How will we know when the world has finally woken up to the real extent of the threat posed by communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS? How many more World Aids Days ...

23 ذو الحجة 1431

Opinion Piece by Jørgen Poulsen

The International Day for Disaster Reduction is an important opportunity to highlight the urgent need for risk reduction to become both a global priority and a ...

20 ذو الحجة 1431

World Aids Day 2010 - Do no harm

Bekele Geleta, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian network Someone,...

5 ذو القعدة 1431

International Day for Disaster Reduction 2010

This year a number of major disasters have captivated the attention of the public and media: the January earthquake in Haiti, the massive earthquake in Chile one ...

12 شوال 1431

Is urban the new rural?

For the first time in the history of mankind, more people live in an urban environment than a rural one and in just 20 years, over 60 per cent of the world’s populatio...

19 رجب 1431

Haiti: “I believe that the long-term legacy of this disaster will be positive.”

The Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Bekele Geleta, has held a series of high-level meetings with the ...

27 ربيع الثاني 1431

Haiti – the enormous tasks ahead

Recent heavy rains and their mud-soaked aftermath have once again turned the spotlight back onto Haiti.

6 ربيع الثاني 1431

Access to water and sanitation should no longer be “all about luck”

Her name is Widline.

4 محرم 1431

What has the tsunami really taught us?

Five years ago, on 26 December 2004, a massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra created a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean.

25 شوال 1430

Decreasing the Destructiveness of Disasters is our only choice

Today, as Asia Pacific reels from one devastating disaster after another, more than 12 million people have been extensively affected.

6 شوال 1430

The G20 must lay the foundations for bold action on climate change in Copenhagen

If necessity is the mother of invention, we should be looking forward to a breathtakingly innovative agreement on climate change in Copenhagen in December.

23 شعبان 1430

Are you pandemic-proof?

When catastrophes hit the world - killing people, wreaking havoc, and threatening our way of life - the world responds with its entire means.

24 جمادى الثانية 1430

Climate change: the ultimate early warning

To many people enduring its effects worldwide, the global economic crisis must have felt like what we, in the humanitarian sphere, call a sudden-onset disaster.

9 جمادى الأولى 1430

Breathing new life into the principle of humanity

How has todays world come to have 2.

26 ربيع الأول 1430

Tuberculosis : lack of information is a killer

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a high cause of mortality throughout the world.

17 صفر 1430

Cholera soars while funds dry up

At some point in the past three weeks Zimbabwe passed a grim milestone.

2 محرم 1430

Tsunami response strengthens community coping

In mid November in 2008, a 7.

20 شوال 1429

‘War, poverty, HIV’ and hope

The time has come for some good news from Africa, says Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

27 جمادى الثانية 1429

The changing humanitarian world

June 30 was the last day of work as Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for 62-year-old Markku Niskala.

23 جمادى الثانية 1429

HIV in Southern Africa: “A disaster by anyone’s definition”

The 2008 World Disasters Report makes a bold statement, one that has been feared and dodged by most.

22 جمادى الثانية 1429

HIV and AIDS response failing to keep pace with an evolving disaster

This year’s World Disasters Report is the first to focus on a single condition and for very good reason.

18 جمادى الأولى 1429

Twenty-one nights in the rain-swept delta: finding a way to Myanmar’s homeless

With the Myanmar government indicating it may allow aid workers into the country, the task of reaching Burma's remoter regions becomes even more pressing.

18 ربيع الثاني 1429

Children keep dying of malaria, unnecessarily

Today, on World Malaria Day, 3,000 children will die of malaria.

16 ربيع الثاني 1429

Food prices: Waking up to Africa’s nightmare

Last week’s announcement by the United States government that it was releasing $200 million in emergency aid to alleviate chronic food shortages should be applauded ...

13 محرم 1429

When saving lives is not enough

“I was only thinking of how to get to the hills that time,” remembered Leni, a young mother of a three year old daughter.

3 ذو الحجة 1428

Addressing discrimination in disasters

Some 142 million people worldwide were affected by disasters in 2006.

18 ذو القعدة 1428

The fight against HIV: there are no short-cuts

In the neighbourhood of Mabopane, a suburb of the South African capital Pretoria, she is known as “Auntie Elizabeth”.

28 رمضان 1428

Reducing the humanitarian consequences of climate change

This year, the world has watched aghast as unprecedented floods have washed across Asia and swamped large swathes of Africa.

16 رمضان 1428

Africa’s flooding crisis will only get worse

Red Cross Red Crescent disasters statistics show a worrying rise in the number of flood emergencies dealt with by volunteers across the African continent.

19 جمادى الأولى 1428

What will it take?

This week, representatives from governments, the UN and aid agencies will meet in Geneva to talk about disaster risk reduction, about what needs to be done to ...

22 ربيع الثاني 1428

Tapping into the enormous potential of Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers more effectively

Paris, November 1918, Juliette, a French Red Cross volunteer nurse examines a patient with symptoms of Influenza.

18 ربيع الأول 1428

Climate change will take its heaviest toll on the poor and the vulnerable

Climate change is exacerbating extreme weather events and patterns around the world, leading to more frequent and intense disasters.

1 ربيع الأول 1428

Tackling the water and sanitation challenge

The consumption of water and the generation of human wastes are such commonplace aspects of human life that planning for their appropriate use or removal may be ...

23 ذو القعدة 1427

Global generosity after crises must reach people in need

In 2005, as never before, individuals and governments reached out to people in need around the globe.

6 ذو القعدة 1427

Honouring the memory of those lost

A crisis always provides opportunity for change.

6 ذو القعدة 1427

The AIDS epidemic: walking the last mile to make the difference

Year after year, AIDS statistics hit us like a sledgehammer, a forceful reminder of the uphill struggle against one of the worst afflictions of humanity.

10 رمضان 1427

Seizing the opportunity to reach out to Pakistan’s rural communities

Azmat Ulla, Head of the Pakistan Delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

2 جمادى الثانية 1427

Eighteen months after the tsunami, recovery and reconstruction are the priorities

It is now 18 months since the tsunami crashed onto shores around the Indian Ocean, the most dramatic natural disaster in modern times.

6 ربيع الثاني 1427

Living and dying in northern Kenya

FINDING new ways to convey the horror of hunger in Africa powerfully enough to get people galvanised in support of our East Africa Appeal is a daunting challenge.

1 ربيع الأول 1427

Focus on Africa

A large number of the world’s most vulnerable people live in sub-Saharan Africa.

29 صفر 1427

Pakistan earthquake: six months on and many challenges still lie ahead

Six months have gone by since a deadly earthquake, measuring 7.

12 ذو القعدة 1426

Learning lessons from the tsunami

This has been a year of natural disasters.

23 رمضان 1426

Allocating resources responsibly when disaster strikes

The unique response to the tsunami triggers questions.

17 جمادى الأولى 1426

Sustainable, appropriate reconstruction a must for tsunami-affected communities

Six months have passed since the tsunami crashed through homes, villages and cities around the Indian Ocean, taking the lives of mothers, fathers and children, ...

17 جمادى الأولى 1426

More must be done to save lives in disaster zones

"Why didn’t we know?" Seldom has a single question echoed in so many languages around the world as after the tsunami of the 26 December last year.

6 ذو الحجة 1425

Learning the lessons from the tsunami

The outpouring of global sympathy and generous support for victims of the Asian tsunami raises a number of questions for the humanitarian organisations seeking to ...

15 رمضان 1423

Opinion: memories of the past provide hope for the future

Children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic are rightly the focus of much attention on Universal Children's Day.

1 رمضان 1423

Europe's forgotten elderly

Elderly and housebound people dependent on home care in Central and Eastern Europe are being forgotten as economic constraints and cutbacks in state health and care ...

3 شعبان 1423

From repair to prepare - a motto for disaster reduction

Disaster reduction is everyone's business - governments, local communities and the private sector.

17 جمادى الثانية 1423

Communities hold the key to sustainable development

The sub Saharan region is threatened by a famine of terrible magnitude, where close to 13 million people in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Malawi could perish ...

30 جمادى الأولى 1423

Youth: our future, our present

"Youth are the future".

23 جمادى الأولى 1423

Southern Africa: it's time for action, the lives of millions hang in the balance

10 ربيع الثاني 1423

Business or politics?

The aid business has changed tremendously over the past ten years.

29 محرم 1423

European conference: who cares about migrants?

25 محرم 1423

Where will those of a working age find a working wage?

22 محرم 1423

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Opinion pieces