International Red Cross
and Red Crescent Movement : the addition of a third emblem alongside
the red cross and red crescent has been approved in response to sustained
pressure from Israel’s national first aid and ambulance organisation, Magen
David Adom (MDA), which has been campaigning for a change for 50 years
and which now looks likely to achieve membership of the movement. The Magen
David Adom organisation, whose name means "red star of David" and which
also provides blood services, has been excluded from membership on the
grounds that it has not been prepared to use either the cross or crescent
symbols. The Israeli government and the organisation itself have claimed
that the real reason has been opposition to its membership from Muslim
and Arab countries. Although the new emblem strongly resembles a diamond
shape, it is going to be known as a crystal, because the diamond symbol
has adverse connotations, recalling memories of the diamond slave trade
in Africa. The red crystal, which is a square shaped frame standing on
one corner on a white background, must be approved by a two thirds vote
at a diplomatic conference in Geneva, which is being held before the end
of 2005 and to which representatives of all 192 member states will be invited.
After the protocol in the Geneva Conventions has been amended to include
the new emblem, the national societies will then automatically ratify itref
Orbis, an international eye-health
group, is a volunteer organization that makes education central to its
mission. Orbis launched its first program in 1982, in the form of a DC-8
airplane outfitted with an operating room
Operation Smile, an international
organization that also repairs facial clefts
Dr. Mark Migliori's approach to international surgical care is minimalist.
With another surgeon, two anesthesiologists, and two or three nurses, he
travels to a rural hospital in Guatemala. The group evaluates dozens of
children from the surrounding villages whom local health care workers have
identified as potential candidates for surgery — primarily the repair of
cleft lips and palates. Each surgeon operates on as many as 15 children
each day with the use of local hospital equipment augmented with supplies
brought from home. When they leave, local health care workers provide follow-up
care, consulting with Migliori by e-mail as necessary. Migliori has made
such trips twice a year since 1993, leaving his Minneapolis practice to
serve patients who normally face insurmountable financial or geographic
barriers to surgical care. The budget for such a visit is less than $10,000
Copyright © 2001-2014 Daniele Focosi.
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