American Red Cross International Services initiatives focus on primary health care, emergency response and preparedness, restoring family links and the dissemination of international humanitarian law. For each of these priority areas, we promote cost-effective, community-based programs, which target large numbers of people with humanitarian aid that is rapid, effective and large-scale. The American Red Cross also works to build the local capacities of our partner Red Cross and Red Crescent societies by strengthening their leadership, financial management, volunteer networks and technical capabilities. We also work with our Movement partners to train and organize volunteers and educate communities to empower them with the skills and knowledge they need to help themselves.

Emergency Response and Preparedness

On average, 62,000 people a year are killed by natural disasters. Of those killed, a disproportionate number were from already vulnerable communities in developing nations. The American Red Cross works with a worldwide network of partners that includes the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and 181 Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies to ensure consistency in international disaster response operations that are undertaken. For more information about the American Red Cross' role in disasters, visit the Emergency Disaster Response and Preparedness web page.

Primary Health Care

 Each year millions of vulnerable people, especially children, die unnecessarily of disease and malnutrition because they lack access to basic healthcare and nutrition. The American Red Cross is committed to helping people around the world prevent and respond to life-threatening health conditions with our global health initiatives that focus on reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating infectious diseases. Examples of American Red Cross health intervention programming include:

• Integrated Management of Childhood Illness
• The Measles Initiative
• Together We Can: Peer Youth Education and Community Mobilization for HIV Prevention
• Food and Nutrition Programming
• and HIV/AIDS Projects

Restoring Family Links

Armed conflict and natural disaster leave millions of people around the globe in urgent need of humanitarian assistance every year. Adding to the physical losses, the confusion and chaos surrounding war and natural disasters often separates families when they need each other most. Tragically, when families and loved ones are separated by war or disaster, their suffering is greater. But, through the strength of the Red Cross Movement and the work of tracing volunteers at national societies around the world, including the American Red Cross, families reconnect. Click here for more information on this valuable service. 

American Red Cross tracing and Red Cross messages have traditionally been conducted between people in the United States and their relatives around the world. Additionally, the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing and Information Center, opened in 1990, is the national clearinghouse for persons seeking the fates of loved ones missing since the Holocaust and its aftermath.

You may also search the online registration for families affected by conflicts or disasters in Angola, Bay of Bengal (2004 Tsunami), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Somalia, the Middle East and the 2005 South Asia Earthquake affecting Pakistan and India by visiting http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/

Dissemination of International Humanitarian Law

 International Humanitarian Law is everyone's concern. In a world where warfare and civil strife are a daily reality for millions, International Humanitarian Law provides a framework for protection for civilians and combatants alike.

The conduct for warfare as embodied by IHL is laid out in the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The American Red Cross has a unique mandate to educate the American public about the guiding principles and IHL framework as it applies to the protection of members of the armed forces including prisoners of war and civilians. For information regarding presentations available on this topic, please contact us.

Additional Links of interest:

Understanding the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement: http://www.redcross.org/services/intl/0,1082,0_441_,00.html 
 
International Committee of the Red Cross: www.icrc.org

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: www.ifrc.org

Other National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the web: http://www.ifrc.org/address/rclinks.asp