The all-day retreat took place at the American Red Cross L.A. Region headquarters. 44 youth, 15 youth advisors and 10 chapter representatives attended. Activities on the agenda included workshops on running an effective meeting, facilitating a presentation and project planning. The retreat also featured guest speakers, teambuilding, goal setting, pizza and interactive activities to reinforce lesson topics.

Director, Youth and Young Adult Services L.A. Region, Kiririth Bee Kong organized the retreat. “The goal was to build a solid foundation for the executive board to begin working as a team and building a team environment and planning projects for the year,” Kong said.

Youth have been part of the Red Cross throughout its history. The American Junior Red Cross was established in 1917 under President Wilson, who formed a partnership between the Red Cross and schools nationwide that continues today. Currently, individuals under the age of 25 make up 35 percent of Red Cross volunteers.

The Red Cross L.A. Region youth programs and services are designed to engage high school students in grades 9 – 12. Students get involved through a local Red Cross youth program or through a High School Red Cross club. High school youth volunteers have the opportunity to volunteer in all five lines of service within the Red Cross including Disaster Services, Health and Safety, International Services, Service to the Armed Forces, and Blood Services.

Youth volunteer activities include disaster safety puppet shows, training in disaster preparedness education, fundraising, Measles Initiative, blood drives and community outreach events. Youth also participate in health and safety by becoming CPR and first aid instructors.

According to Kong, the executive board offers youth an opportunity for meaningful participation, a principle of youth development. “Youth contribute through the many different ways in which they give back to the community,” Kong continued.

Youth programs of the L.A. Region assist the needs of the community through service, education and leadership while also implementing the Red Cross lines of services. For more information or to get involved, please email Youth Services@arcla.org or visit www.RedCrossLA.org.

Red Cross volunteer Regina holds a vial of measles vaccine at a health clinic in the Central African Republic, April 2011.

The child who received the milestone-marking vaccination was among 3.5 million immunized in Mozambique this May. The immunization campaign was sponsored by the Measles Initiative’s five founding partners: the American Red Cross, United Nations Foundation, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO). The Measles Initiative, established in 2001, is an alliance committed to reducing measles deaths globally. It provides technical and financial support to governments and communities for vaccination campaigns and disease surveillance throughout the world.

The American Red Cross provides financial assistance and training to Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia on community education and mobilization. The training prepares volunteers to travel house-to-house to educate families about the importance of vaccination and where to access immunization services—enabling campaigns to reach children in even the most remote villages.

“When we started the Measles Initiative ten years ago, we knew that we would help save millions of lives, but we never imagined where the world’s support would take us,” said David Meltzer, senior vice president of international services at the American Red Cross. “With every dollar donated, we vaccinated another child. Across the globe, we stopped outbreaks, improved treatment and protected future generations from one of the world’s deadliest diseases. This milestone in measles control is significant and improves the overall outlook for children’s health around the world.”

Though the Measles Initiative’s founding partners recognized this significant achievement, they cautioned that governments and the global health community should not rest their efforts or redirect resources elsewhere at the expense of combating measles. Due to the decline in deaths, measles is no longer commonly seen as a threat and must compete for funding with programs aimed at other diseases. The WHO estimates that dwindling support could result in half a million more deaths every year and undo the Measles Initiative’s gains by 2013.

Since it costs less than $ 1 USD per child to vaccinate against measles, the real obstacle is the lack of political commitment in many countries. Several economic studies, however, indicate that eradication of measles is more cost effective than a control strategy and is actually cost saving for countries wherein measles has been eliminated.

The Measles Initiative continues to encourage governments around the globe to maintain an aggressive vaccination schedule, and improve routine immunization and surveillance in developing countries. Looking forward into its second decade, the Measles Initiative will focus on achieving interim targets toward the eventual eradication of measles. The first of these targets is to reduce measles mortality by 95 percent by 2015 (compared to 2000). The Measles Initiative estimates it will require roughly $ 212 million between 2012 and 2015 to reach the targets.

Locally, the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region supports the Measles Initiative, one of the Red Cross’s global programs to combat deadly infectious diseases around the world. Los Angeles residents can help make an impact locally through the International Services team to promote the global work and partnerships of the Measles Initiative.

As water sources diminish, rural families are increasingly consuming untreated water from rivers and streams, placing them at risk of contracting waterborne diseases including cholera and typhoid fever. Fields that farmers use to feed livestock have completely dried up, leading many families to uproot and migrate in search of viable food and water sources.

“Many people are living in the open or in makeshift camps,” said Apu Patel, regional director for Africa with the American Red Cross. “They represent a heavy burden for the host communities that share their scarce resources with them. Most of the displaced have nothing left to sell and cannot buy food, which is resulting in even higher malnutrition rates among displaced people.”

Substantial food aid is being distributed among Somalia’s famine zone for the first time since the crisis became acute, but more will be needed in the coming months. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is active in all provinces of eastern and southern Somalia, where it can execute large-scale distributions. It currently supports 39 clinics and 18 therapeutic feeding centers operated by the Somalia Red Crescent Society.

To combat the growing tragedy, the ICRC is expanding its emergency operation in central and southern Somalia to assist a further 1.1 million people affected by drought and conflict. In cooperation with the Somali Red Crescent, the ICRC is scaling up its existing services in health-care facilities and outpatient therapeutic feeding centers. Ten new centers are expected to open in Bakool, Gedo and the Afgoye corridor. Additional mobile teams will visit the most affected regions to provide nutritional assistance to seriously malnourished children. Approximately 49,000 malnourished children and 24,000 pregnant and lactating women will benefit from the supplemental feeding programs.

The ICRC said that over 3,000 tons of food have been given to 162,000 people in southern and central Somalia, the drought- and violence-ravaged areas under the control of Islamist militia groups.

The militia group al-Shabab has prohibited certain aid agencies from working in their territories, making the response to the disaster difficult and delayed. The ICRC has been granted access to the controlled areas, although its relief efforts have been inhibited. Emergency relief is reaching only a “small percentage of those in need,” according to the organization. “More aid will be required to help the population bridge the gap until the next harvest in December,” said Andrea Heath, the ICRC’s economic security coordinator for Somalia.

Red Cross and Red Crescent teams are also offering medical treatments, seeds, farming tools, irrigation pumps and fishing equipment to improve livelihoods in Somalia. Meanwhile, the Red Cross is assisting drought victims in Ethiopia and Kenya with school feeding programs, well rehabilitation, water trucking and food distribution.

The UN estimates that 3.7 Somalis–about half the population–need food aid, most of whom are in the al-Shabab-controlled south, including the 1.5 million experiencing famine. Another 8.2 million people require food aid in Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. The situation in Somalia is more acute because of fighting between al-Shabab and other militias, the absence of effective governance and insufficient humanitarian access. The UN also estimates that tens of thousands of Somalis may have died due to a lack of food.

“The tragedy in the Horn of Africa is chronic, and even as we respond with emergency aid for these new developments, we must also work on longer-term solutions,” Patel said. “The global Red Cross and Red Crescent network was one of the first organizations to sound the alarm and launch an international response, but the solution to this crisis is a long-term commitment to building up resilience and capacity within the region’s most vulnerable communities.”

Gifts to the American Red Cross can support our disaster relief operations to assist those affected by the severe drought and humanitarian crisis in eastern Africa. Visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. Contributions may also be mailed to local American Red Cross chapters or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

By Alexandra Leard, Communications Volunteer