Bruce Eshaya-Chauvin*
Paris, November 1918, Juliette, a French Red Cross volunteer nurse examines a patient with symptoms of Influenza.
Toronto, 2003, Elizabeth, a Canadian Red Cross volunteer, carefully unloads a cart of prepared meals to deliver them to the thousands of people quarantined in Canada’s province of Ontario as a result of the SARS crisis.
Zambia, spring 2004, Anton, a Zambian Red Cross volunteer, equipped only with a Red Cross vest and his bicycle, leads the way for more than 12 orphaned children to take them to a mass immunization campaign in the next village a few kilometres away.
Banda Aceh, 26 December 2004, Mohammed, a public health specialist and Indonesian Red Cross first aid volunteer, overwhelmed by the devastation surrounding him does his best at examining the wounded survivors of his city by a terrible tsunami.
Almost 90 years ago, the multiplication of health emergencies led to the creation in 1919 of the League of Red Cross Societies, which later became the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. At that time, Europe was struggling to get back on its feet after the First World War and had to deal with numerous health crises, such as typhus and Spanish influenza. It quickly became clear that health conditions could only be improved with the closer involvement of civil society.
Today, health specialists from around the world gather in numerous forums and often ask themselves: what mechanisms can we rely on for health care services? The question deserves to be raised, as governments and other leading bodies often tend to answer the question from a purely medical point of view. A healthy population depends on all of us. Our own health and the health of those around us concern us at all times.
The national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies operate with the stewardship of a distinctive characteristic which makes them unique; they act as auxiliaries to their public authorities in humanitarian matters. They therefore play a singular role in their respective countries, distinguishing them from other organizations representing civil society in addressing and tackling health issues.
Since then, National Societies have developed in more than 185 countries and their volunteers are key actors in responding to national and international emergencies whenever they arise. They are privileged interlocutors with national ministries of health.
The avian influenza threat prompted the training of hundreds of volunteers all over Asia to help prevent the transmission of the H5N1 virus from birds to humans and ensure that they were prepared to act in the event of a human pandemic. These examples highlight how essential volunteers are and how a well-organized and well-trained network can be mobilized to complement the action of public health authorities on a day-to-day basis and in crisis situations.
Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies worldwide, each year train volunteers to help others in their own communities. While young people from a poor area in an African capital city may be less receptive to follow health advice given by international organizations, they are often more likely to heed the advice of a Red Cross or Red Crescent volunteer from their own neighbourhood.
They are more receptive to the words of a peer, who speaks the same language as they do, is familiar with and may even share the same problems as they have and is, at the same time, capable of identifying possible cultural or social obstacles, which would make certain advice or recommendations futile. This is why volunteers acting in their own communities are an essential complement to traditional health structures, particularly in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
The global health and care strategy, the blueprint for the “how” of the contribution of volunteers to the wellbeing of those in need, makes National Societies a little better each year at identifying men and women prepared to join them, training them to carry out simple but essential activities that save lives, because they will be implemented in the community, and conveying health messages, which will be spread and also save many human lives.
The Millennium Development Goals cannot be achieved without the contribution of volunteer organizations working in the community. We need to show to governments the extraordinary potential of Red Cross and Red Crescent personnel and its network of volunteers a little more effectively. A significant step has already been taken with the signing of joint letter of agreement between the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the World Health Organization. This agreement seeks to promote the complementarity of State health systems and Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies.
For the first time this year, several ministers and representatives from health ministries will participate in the Global Health and Care Forum organized by the International Federation, which is held in Geneva from 9 to 11 May. The time has come to put this agreement into action.
* Bruce Eshaya-Chauvin is head of the Health and Care Department of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.