Advocates Request Support For HIV-Positive People Affected By Floods In Namibia
March 22, 2008
The Solidarity Community Care Organization is requesting urgent support for HIV-positive people affected by recent flooding in northern areas of Namibia, the Namibian reports. The organization in a recent statement voiced concerns that HIV-positive people who require antiretroviral treatment might be forced to discontinue their medicines because health centers are inaccessible. SCCO Chair Hishiyukifa Mwandingi also said that flood damage has hindered access to checkups and treatment appointments at health facilities.
“We are therefore calling upon all HIV-positive people, especially those on [antiretrovirals] in the affected regions, to take responsibility for their treatment by keeping to their appointments and adhering to their treatment at all times,” SCCO said, adding, “Those who are strong must assist the weaker ones to reach health facilities.” The group also called on community health workers in the country’s Ohangwena and Oshana regions to help ensure that people remain on their antiretroviral regimens. In addition, members of the organization thanked national and regional health authorities for their help in addressing health issues in affected areas, the Namibian reports (Namibian, 3/18).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
British Government To Provide $28M For HIV/AIDS Initiatives In Sub-Saharan Africa
March 20, 2008
The British government on Tuesday announced that it will provide 225 million rand, or about $28 million, over the next four years to fight HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, SAPA/iAfrica.com reports. According to Russ Dixon, a spokesperson for the British High Commission, the funding is a continuation of the government’s support for Soul City initiatives.
Soul City is a radio and television program that deals with HIV/AIDS and other issues — including teenage pregnancy, poverty and intolerance — in Southern African countries. “Soul City indicated to us that they wanted to expand to the sub-Saharan region as a whole in all forms of the media,” Dixon said. He added that it is important for the British government to continue its support because of the high HIV/AIDS rates in the region. The British government has spent more than 200 million rand, or about $24 million, on the program during the past 13 years, SAPA/iAfrica.com reports.
British Minister for International Development Gillian Merron, who made the funding announcement during a two-day visit to South Africa, said the government is proud to be associated with Soul City. She added, “Young people deserve to have access to information that can save their lives, and Soul City’s approach does just that.” John Molefe, spokesperson for Soul City, said effective communication is key to controlling the spread of HIV (SAPA/iAfrica.com, 3/19).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
HIV/AIDS In Africa And Food Insecurity Linked
March 20, 2008
Determining how the HIV/AIDS epidemic increases food insecurity in African cities - and what can be done to reduce the chances of this happening - is the focus of a new, international Queen’s-led project.
Both Canadian and Southern African expertise will be used in developing new training programs and in policy advocacy around this crucial issue.
Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the $3-million, five-year project is headed by Global Development Studies professor Jonathan Crush, who is director of the university’s Southern African Research Centre. Queen’s was one of four successful applicants in the recent CIDA-funded Tier One University Partners in Cooperation and Development competition.
“It is heartening to see support directed to such worthwhile causes that will enhance the ability of South African educational organizations to address regional needs, and ultimately improve the quality of life for those in the region,” says Vice-Principal (Research) Kerry Rowe. “We are extremely proud that researchers at Queen’s are securing the financial support required to lead the way on these collaborative projects.”
Until now associated mainly with rural areas, food security is rapidly becoming a critical urban development issue in a region currently experiencing unprecedented urbanization and the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, notes Dr. Crush. The new project aims to establish a sustainable African centre of excellence in urban food security at the University of Cape Town, including a network of organizations committed to enhanced food security for the urban poor and HIV/AIDS-affected households.
The researchers will look at the relationship between food supply, access and distribution amongst the urban poor in 11 African cities. A key research question will be how the HIV/AIDS epidemic increases food insecurity and what policy measures might be adopted to reduce vulnerability to both.
“The impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on urban livelihoods and food production, distribution and access has been catastrophic,” says Dr Crush. “By focusing local and international attention on this critical development challenge and building local capacity to manage food insecurity in African cities, Queen’s is helping to play an important role in rolling back some of the worst aspects of the pandemic.”
The project will work with universities in eight African countries (with University of Cape Town as the lead African partner), several major NGOs including Care International and two regional networks of municipal officials: the South African Cities Network and the Municipal Development Partnership of Eastern and Southern Africa.
Researchers from Queen’s, including both faculty and graduate students, will work with African partners on food security issues, while scholars from African universities will spend time at Queen’s. Undergraduate students at Queen’s may apply for internships through the Department of Global Development Studies. Also involved with the project are researchers at other Canadian universities including Western, Calgary, Guelph and Ryerson.
The CIDA UPCD program funds projects between Canadian universities and education and training organizations in developing countries. The goal is to enhance the latter’s institutional capacity to develop the human resources to address their countries’ most important development needs in sustainable ways. At the same time, partners respond to the needs of local communities in developing countries.
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Source: Alissa Clark
Queen’s University
Chad: Refugees From Darfur Tell Of Violence
March 20, 2008
In February, bombings and attacks on villages in parts of West Darfur, Sudan, led to an influx of thousands of refugees into the Birak region of eastern Chad.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have been providing assistance by distributing essential relief items to the refugees, including: more than 2,500 blankets; 1,600 plastic sheets; 1,600 jerry cans for water; 2,000 mats; soap; and nutrient-fortified, ready-to-use foods (RUF) to prevent and treat malnutrition. By the end of February, the MSF team had treated 51 wounded people in the Birak health center. For now, morbidity and malnutrition rates are normal for the area.
Now, the MSF team is preparing a complementary distribution of essential items as a new wave of refugees has arrived in Birak from the Jebel Moon region in Darfur. Mobile clinics will be carried out to provide access to medical care. Additionally, MSF will organize a measles vaccination campaign alongside a distribution of RUF for moderate and severely malnourished children under five years of age.
They just escaped bombings in Darfur, but have no other choice than to return home in order to get the most urgently needed supplies. Sudanese refugees who recently arrived in the Birak area of eastern Chad remain in a critical situation. Indeed, their villages were burnt down, their goods plundered, and their family members killed or wounded. They escaped and took refuge a few kilometers across the border, hoping to find a secure place to stay. Nevertheless, assistance in this unstable region is extremely restricted. Today, they have limited resources, so they risk their lives going back to look for food in the ruins of their villages in Darfur.
Refugees in Birak describe particularly violent attacks: first, aerial attacks; then, Sudanese army vehicles and horse-riding militias.
“It was Friday; we went praying,” says Ibrahim, from Seleah village in northern Darfur. “Suddenly, airplanes started bombing. Right after, army pick-ups and men on horseback entered the village. They started shooting people and pillaging. We took refuge in our bedroom, but some of the militias followed us and took everything. When they tried to take my wife’s blanket, she refused to give it , saying that it was for the children. They shot her. Then they took everything, even our horse, and they left.”
The first refugees arrived in Chad on February 9, escaping attacks on Seleah, Abu Shuruj, and Sirba. A second wave of refugees arrived from the Jebel Moon area on February 20, recounting the same kind of events.
“Bombings started on Tuesday with airplanes and helicopters,” explains Zara, a 26- year-old woman from a village in the foothills of the Jebel Moon. “We took refuge in the mountain, but militias followed us and killed many people. I was hiding in a cave. One of them entered to have a look. When he saw me, he shot. I got a bullet in my leg and one in my arm. My son died on my back. He was 18 months old.”
In the panic that followed, several families were separated.
“Those who died, we left them behind. We even had to leave behind some of the wounded,” remembers Fatima, a 60-year-old grandmother who arrived in Birak on February 20. “Each of us escaped alone. You were lucky if you had enough time to take your child with you. We left without looking back.”
Gradually, some families reunited on the Chadian side of the border. But one week after the attacks, some parents are still looking for their children. Families affirm that many old people who weren’t able to move remain in Darfur.
Most of the refugees couldn’t bring anything during their escape. Once in Chad, they gathered in different sites along the border. Because they are scattered over more than 30 kilometers, it is difficult to estimate their number: around 10,000, maybe more. They set up camp under the trees, in the wadis (seasonal rivers), or behind branches. Some of them receive assistance from the local population and the organizations present on the ground - among them, MSF - but the majority of the refugees survive in very precarious conditions. Their situation is unfortunately not going to improve as long as they stay close to the border, since transporting relief supplies in this isolated and unstable area is extremely difficult.
A dangerous return in Darfur
Without a real choice, some people are returning to their villages in Sudan in order to find food, often risking their lives because of the militias still present in their village. Generally, women return; men claim they would be killed if they returned. The women enter their villages during the night in order to avoid armed groups, but the trip is very risky.
“Militias whipped us,” say Hawa and Fatima who recently went back to Gosmino in Darfur. “If you only take a small millet bag then you can go through, but if you take a big bag or something else, then they take it. Some women suffered a lot.”
During the last week of February, the MSF team working in the heath center of Birak treated a man who was shot during his attempt to get food in Seleah. “Normally women go there because it’s less dangerous,” explains the man’s uncle. “However, he had no choice. He didn’t have anything left to eat, and his wife is sick.”
Despite these very precarious conditions, the refugees’ health status remains stable. Nevertheless, it could deteriorate quickly if no assistance is given.
“As for now, we just suffer from the cold and our stomachs hurt a bit, nothing serious,” says Abdallah, a man who came from the Jebel Moon with his 13 children. They have survived up to now with the help of the local population. “But in a couple of days there could be a real problem,” he says.A deadlocked situation
Caught in this buffer zone, the refugees’ situation seems to be deadlocked. Many of them believe that being transferred to a refugee camp in a more secure area is the solution.
“We cannot return to Sudan because of insecurity,” says one refugee. “We cannot stay here because we don’t have any food and water. If some organization brings us to a camp, we will go.” However, not all of them share the same opinion, particularly some sheikhs (community leaders) who prefer to remain close to the border in order to go back to Sudan as soon as the situation will permit.
For many of them who are tired of this endless war, to go back home is, for the moment, out of the question. For the vast majority of the refugees who recently arrived in Chad, unfortunately, this is not the first attack they have had to endure. Almost all of them claim to have been displaced in 2003 or 2004 following militia attacks.
“Darfur is too bitter, I don’t want to go back,” declares Fatima, the grandmother who arrived in Birak a couple of days ago. “Previously, I was living in my village, but in 2004, militias made us go to a camp. And now, they made us come here. I don’t want to leave one more time.”
In Eastern Chad, MSF provides primary and secondary health care, psychosocial care, water, and sanitation to Sudanese refugees and to displaced or resident Chadians in Abeche, Adre, Farchana, Goz Beida, Dogdoré, Guereda, Iriba, and Am Timam. From Guereda, MSF teams support four neighboring health centers, including one in Birak.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
U.N. Ambassador Pledges Support To Congolese NGO That Provides Food Security To People Living With HIV/AIDS
March 20, 2008
Myriam Makeba, ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, recently vowed to support the efforts of Congolese charity Alpi, which provides food security and helps women living with HIV/AIDS reintegrate into society, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. Alpi, supported by FAO since 2003, currently provides support to 2,430 people living with HIV/AIDS.
According to the group, each family in the program can cultivate up to 15 plots of land of about 10 square feet. The food grown on the plots is used to balance the diet of HIV-positive people, as well as provide financial support. The surplus of food is sold in markets and can help a family earn up to $250 monthly, the group said. Aline Okongo, chair of Alpi, said the financial support is still insufficient to pay for antiretroviral drugs, which can be expensive and difficult to obtain. She added that farm work can be “very difficult” because people often must travel “far from any roads” to reach the fields. Okongo called for more investment from the government and international donors.
According to Okongo, 80% of people living with HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of Congo are between ages 15 and 45 — “an economically productive age group.” According to Okongo, the disease is hindering development in the country (Bouderbala, AFP/Yahoo! News, 3/15).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
WFP Urges Continued Support For Burundi Refugees Returning Home
March 17, 2008
The United Nations World Food Programme urged the international community to provide US$6 million so that WFP food assistance to as many as 90,000 Burundian refugees returning home from Tanzania - due to run out mid-year - can be maintained.
“WFP needs donors to provide for the vital needs of the returnees - most of whom are women and children - at this critical moment,” said WFP Burundi Country Director Jean-Charles Dei. “It would be a tragedy if we are unable to provide the full support refugees will need when returning to Burundi.”
“Unless contributions are immediately forthcoming, our support to those returning home will be in jeopardy,” he said.
In 2007, a tripartite commission consisting of the governments of Burundi and Tanzania, as well as UNHCR, agreed that people who fled Burundi in 1993 should repatriate. As many as 60,000 of these refugees are expected to return this year. A schedule for camp closures in Tanzania for 2008 was also announced.
The commission also agreed that people who fled Burundi in 1972 and are living in Tanzanian settlements could either remain in Tanzania and apply for citizenship or return to Burundi. Of the 218,000 refugees in this group, some 30,000 have expressed their desire to return home to Burundi.
Hundreds of thousands of people left Burundi for neighbouring Tanzania in 1972 to escape conflict. Thousands more followed in 1993. Burundi is emerging from 14 years of civil war which killed more than 300,000 people and displaced more than one million people in the region.
In collaboration with UNHCR, WFP and its partners therefore immediately moved to encourage voluntary returns by increasing the return package for each family from a three-month to a six-month food ration. The U.N. refugee agency provides a cash grant of 50,000 Burundian francs (approximately US$45) to each returning refugee.
Every Burundian refugee family leaving Tanzania receives prepared meals from WFP in the transit camps before being given a one-month ration as they head home. The remaining five-month ration is distributed to families once they have reached their home communities by WFP’s partner CED/Caritas.
In order to meet the urgent needs of the returnees, WFP has already been forced to cut rations to many of the people it feeds in Burundi, including children receiving school meals and mothers of children being treated for malnutrition. Food-for-work and food-for-training projects have been suspended.
WFP is facing major breaks in supplies of all its regular food commodities in May and June, just when the return of refugees is anticipated to be at its height. In addition to the returnee operation, in order to roll out its other operations in Burundi until the end of June, WFP requires an additional US$20 million.
“It’s crucial for the consolidation of peace in Burundi that not only the returnees, but also the communities that are receiving them, receive the assistance they need at this seminal time in the country’s history,” said Dei.
WFP Burundi currently provides food for 600,000 hungry people each month including small-scale rural farmers, women and children in health and nutrition centres, Congolese refugees, families affected by HIV/AIDS and children who receive meals at school.
Donors to WFP’s post-conflict operation in Burundi include United States (US$13.3 million), Japan (US$ 7.7 million), UN CERF (US$5.8 million - for CERF see: http://ochaonline.un.org), European Commission (US$5.5 million), Canada (US$4.2 million), Multilateral funds (US$3.2 million), United Kingdom (US$2.7 million), Belgium (US$2.4 million), Netherlands (US$1.9 million), France (US$1.8 million), Germany (US$1.4 million), Ireland (US$1.3 million), Switzerland (US$1 million), Norway (US$901,000), Finland (US$670,000), Luxembourg (US$640,000), China (US$250,000).
http://www.wfp.org
International Donors Expected To Reduce HIV/AIDS Funding To Indonesia, Officials Say
March 15, 2008
International donors are expected to “drastically” reduce their contributions to HIV/AIDS programs in Indonesia in part because donors now consider the country to be a middle-income nation, Indonesian Welfare Minister Aburizal Barkie said Wednesday, Reuters reports. Foreign aid currently accounts for 70% of the funds for HIV/AIDS services in the country.
According to Barkie, donors such as the U.S., the United Kingdom and Australia will reduce their contributions this year. The country will need an additional one trillion rupiah, or about $109 million, to fund its HIV/AIDS programs, he said (Pathoni, Reuters, 3/12). The government is looking to provincial governments and other sources, including nongovernmental organizations, to address the shortfall (Agence France-Presse, 3/12).
Indonesia’s National AIDS Commission in a report said the shortfall is “expected to continue until 2010.” Nancy Fee, Indonesia’s country coordinator for UNAIDS, said that although some countries might reduce their aid, Indonesia would still receive a significant amount of international support. She added that the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has allocated $32 million to Indonesia over the next two years (Reuters, 3/12).
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari on Wednesday called on the mining company Freeport to contribute funding to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the Indonesian province of Papua, where the company operates, as part of its corporate social responsibility program. The Ministry of Health estimated that in 2007, Papua and West Papua provinces together have the highest HIV prevalence in the country at about 2.4% (Agence France-Presse, 3/12).
According to NAC, government programs aimed at reducing the spread of HIV have reached between 5% and 20% of people at high risk of the virus. The commission has estimated there will be one million HIV/AIDS cases by 2015 if services are not increased (Reuters, 3/12). The country recorded 19,335 HIV/AIDS cases at the end of 2007, up from 13,424 at the end of 2007 (Agence France-Presse, 3/12). HIV prevalence is increasing rapidly among commercial sex workers and injection drug users in the country and has spread to the general population in Papua, Reuters reports (Reuters, 3/12).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
‘Not On Our Watch’ Donates To Critical Air Operation In Darfur
March 14, 2008
The vital Humanitarian Air Service run by the UN World Food Programme in Darfur has received its first donation of 2008: US$500,000 from Not On Our Watch, the humanitarian and advocacy organization founded by the Hollywood actors George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, producer Jerry Weintraub and civil rights lawyer David Pressman.
This is the World Food Programme’s second donation from Not On Our Watch; in 2007, the organization granted $1 million dollars toward UN WFP-Humanitarian Air Service (WFP-HAS).
WFP-HAS announced earlier this week that by the end of March it would be forced to ground the helicopters and aeroplanes that carry crucial supplies and relief workers to remote parts of Darfur because no confirmed donations had arrived to its US$77 million budget this year.
“Having seen first hand the epic humanitarian challenge in Darfur, George Clooney and his colleagues know the life saving power of the Humanitarian Air Service,” said Josette Sheeran, WFP’s Executive Director. “This contribution will make a difference to the millions of vulnerable women and children trapped there, and we hope it will inspire other donations.”
“World Food Programme planes and helicopters deliver humanitarian workers and urgent supplies to nearly every aid organization working in Darfur,” said George Clooney, a co-founder of Not On Our Watch. “This is a critical time for the program. Without immediate additional funding, humanitarian aid in the region will be crippled. We are proud to help ensure the survival of this lifesaving program and strongly encourage others to do the same. Protection of these victims should not fall solely in the hands of charitable organizations. Governments have a responsibility to help those who cannot defend themselves.”
An average of 8,000 relief workers in Darfur, who provide essential food assistance, water and healthcare services, use WFP-HAS each month. This number includes 3,000 passengers on the six helicopters travelling to the most remote parts of Darfur, unreachable due to insecurity and lack of road access. More than half of WFP-HAS passengers work for non-governmental organizations and charities, while others work for UN humanitarian
agencies such as WFP, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and others. Some humanitarian cargo is also carried on WFP-HAS, although the majority of supplies arrive by truck. “Since we issued our statement earlier this week we have heard from other traditional donors and we are hopeful that more contributions will arrive before the end of March,” said Kenro Oshidari, the WFP Representative in Sudan.
The Not On Our Watch donation was made through Friends of WFP in Washington. “The entire humanitarian community - and the more than three million conflict-affected people in Darfur that they serve - depend on the services of WFP-HAS,” said Oshidari.
WFP-HAS’s monthly budget to run its 24 aircraft throughout North and South Sudan (including Darfur) is US$6.2 million.
WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency: this year, WFP plans to feed more than 70 million people in around 80 countries.
http://www.wfp.org
White Helmets Of Argentina, PAHO Agree To Strengthen Regional Disaster Response Capacity
March 13, 2008
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) signed an agreement of understanding with the White Helmets Commission of Argentina to unite forces and cooperate in responding to disasters and other emergencies.
“In the current context, emergencies, whether natural or man-made, are likely to be increasingly frequent”, said PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses.
Under the new memorandum of understanding, PAHO and the White Helmets Commission will collaborate in emergency preparedness and disaster response, working to improve regional response capabilities.
The president of the White Helmets Commission, Gabriel Marcelo Fuks, said at the signing ceremony, “In recent years I have seen that the concepts and ideas on emergencies have advanced a great deal in the regional context, but a great deal still remains to be done.”
The White Helmets Commission is a humanitarian aid and peacekeeping agency based on an initiative launched by Argentina in 1993, and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994 and the Organization of American States in 1998. It has more than 4,000 trained volunteers and has participated in missions in numerous countries of the Americas and other continents.
PAHO agreed to make the SUMA Logistics Supply System available to the White Helmets and collaborate in training and joint responses, while the group agreed to hold joint training sessions and make its volunteers available for joint activities.
Links of Interest:
-White Helmets Commission of Argentina
- Area of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief (PAHO)
PAHO, founded in 1902, works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and quality of life of their peoples. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization.
Pan American Health Organization
Professional Quarterback Matt Leinart Teams Up With American Red Cross To Promote CPR/AED Awareness
March 12, 2008
Arizona Cardinals Quarterback and American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet Member, Matt Leinart, hosted a press conference Monday, March 10, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. PST, calling for the nation’s attention to the importance of knowing how to perform CPR and use an AED (automated external defibrillator.)
During the press conference, held at the Silver Screen Theater located at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, Leinart, along with members of the American Red Cross, gave a CPR/AED demonstration in order to illustrate how simple it is to perform CPR and use an AED. Nearly everyone is capable of learning to save a life.
“It’s great to have this opportunity to educate the country on how important it is for all of us to know what to do in case of an emergency,” said Leinart. “I have a very demanding schedule, yet I felt it was important for me to take the time to become trained and certified in CPR/AED in case my loved ones and others around me ever needed my help.”
Each year approximately 325,000 Americans suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. Tragically, more than 95 percent of sudden cardiac victims die before reaching the hospital. Every minute counts. Each minute defibrillation is delayed reduces a person’s chance of survival by about 10 percent.
In his role as a 2008 Celebrity Cabinet member, Leinart will volunteer his time with the Red Cross helping to bring attention to the number of lives that can be saved each year if more people become trained and certified in CPR/AED and other lifesaving skills.
Larry Paul, American Red Cross Board of Governors member in attendance, stated “The National Celebrity Cabinet plays a tremendous role in giving visibility and credibility to the lifesaving work of the Red Cross. We are proud to call upon them as volunteers.”
The press conference is an important prelude of events the Red Cross is planning in recognition of the first “National Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Awareness Week”. During the first week of June, the Red Cross has set a goal to reach 250,000 people nationwide with lifesaving CPR and AED information and training.
The Red Cross recommends that at least one person in every household and office is trained in first aid and CPR/AED. Enrolling in a CPR/AED course provides the confidence to respond during an emergency situation with skills that can save a life.
For more information on CPR/AED and other safety training, contact your local Red Cross chapter or log on to http://www.redcross.org.
About the American Red Cross
The American Red Cross provides relief to victims of disasters at home and abroad, collects and distributes nearly half of the nation’s blood supply, teaches lifesaving skills, and supports military members and families. The American Red Cross, a charity and not a government agency, depends on voluntary contributions of time, money and blood to perform its humanitarian mission.
American Red Cross
