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• Climate change and the humanitarian response
  Emily Oliver, Pascal Cassan
  Published on: 5 June 2017

• Published on: 5 June 2017

  Climate change and the humanitarian response

  • Emily Oliver, Senior Education Research Manager British Red Cross
  • Other Contributors:
    • Pascal Cassan, Head of Global First Aid Reference Centre

  Sir,
  You articulate and document the catalogue of evidence supporting the health impacts of climate change admirably in your editorial ‘Peering through the hourglass’ (Lemery, 2017), but the Emergency Medicine world is not as disconnected as you make out. The Red Cross Movement, known traditionally for its humanitarian action, has long had expert emergency medicine at the heart of its work on preparedness for crisis, including natural disasters such as those precipitated by climate change.
  Our international First Aid and Resuscitation Guidelines (IFRC, 2016) are based soundly on science and support the interventions of lay responders and medical professionals across the globe. Our Global First Aid app is now used in 90 countries, bespoke to each one through careful translation and cultural relevance. The British Red Cross, American Red Cross and others have developed their own additional apps, specific to the disasters that might occur, such as flooding, hurricanes and tornadoes. These, too, are rooted in clinical science and educational methodology supporting the public to learn, be prepared and be resilient.
  Beyond technology, our thousands of staff and volunteers across the world work closely with local authorities in their planning for natural disasters, ensuring systems are in place to cope with the practical realities, as well as the humanitarian care needed for those affected. This work inevitably draws attention to the humanitarian crises that...

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  Sir,
  You articulate and document the catalogue of evidence supporting the health impacts of climate change admirably in your editorial ‘Peering through the hourglass’ (Lemery, 2017), but the Emergency Medicine world is not as disconnected as you make out. The Red Cross Movement, known traditionally for its humanitarian action, has long had expert emergency medicine at the heart of its work on preparedness for crisis, including natural disasters such as those precipitated by climate change.
  Our international First Aid and Resuscitation Guidelines (IFRC, 2016) are based soundly on science and support the interventions of lay responders and medical professionals across the globe. Our Global First Aid app is now used in 90 countries, bespoke to each one through careful translation and cultural relevance. The British Red Cross, American Red Cross and others have developed their own additional apps, specific to the disasters that might occur, such as flooding, hurricanes and tornadoes. These, too, are rooted in clinical science and educational methodology supporting the public to learn, be prepared and be resilient.
  Beyond technology, our thousands of staff and volunteers across the world work closely with local authorities in their planning for natural disasters, ensuring systems are in place to cope with the practical realities, as well as the humanitarian care needed for those affected. This work inevitably draws attention to the humanitarian crises that result from increased numbers and intensities of events linked to climate change.
  Although first aid has traditionally been seen as an emergency response intervention, we have developed a ‘chain of survival behaviour’ being explicit about the role of preparation for interventions to be effective (www.ifrc.org/Global/Publications/Health/First-Aid-2016-Guidelines_EN.pdf).

  This approach is now embedded across our education programmes and forms a literal and practical link between public health and emergency response, in an endeavour to bring greater recognition to their essential juxtaposition to support individual and community resilience.
  Emily Oliver, Senior Education Research Manager, British Red Cross
  Dr Pascal Cassan, Head, Global First Aid Reference Centre, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

  Lemery J, Peering through the hourglass Emerg Med J Published Online First: 09 February 2017. doi: 10.1136/emermed-2016-206500

  International Federation of the Red Cross, First aid and Resuscitation Guidelines, 2016. Geneva. Access at: www.ifrc.org/Global/Publications/Health/First-Aid-2016-Guidelines_EN.pdf

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  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

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