Observer Trip Showcases Health Programs in Vietnam and Cambodia

by Shilpika Das , Special to RedCross.org

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 — American Red Cross Board of Governors members, National Celebrity Cabinet member Elisabeth Rohm, and Senior Vice President of International Services David Meltzer will visit Red Cross programs in Vietnam and Cambodia April 23-28. They will witness first-hand the programs supported by the American Red Cross and its local Red Cross partners, which are improving the health of mothers, children and their families.

Since March 2004, the American Red Cross has partnered with the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC) to improve the development of school children and support projects focusing on school feeding, school-based nutrition, and hygiene education. Through the Vietnam Education and Child Nutrition Initiative, the American Red Cross and VNRC has helped improve the overall academic performance of primary school children at 126 poor, rural schools in Vietnam by reducing hunger. Malnutrition rates have dropped from 45 percent to 20 percent over the school year. Sufficient nutrition and health education is key to keeping children healthy and alert so they can learn in school and contribute to the development of their country later in life.

The partnership has already benefited more than 50,000 school children and 40,000 families. Building on its success in four provinces of Central Vietnam, the project was expanded in 2006 to six provinces – including two remote mountainous provinces in the north.

In Cambodia, the American Red Cross and the Cambodian Red Cross have been working together since the 1990s to address the needs of the most vulnerable people in Cambodia. In 2004, the American Red Cross and its local partner implemented the Integrated Child Health Project in Siem Reap – an area with one of the highest child morbidity and mortality rates in Southeast Asia. The project aims to reduce childhood morbidity and mortality with a focus on health education for families in rural Cambodia. The program directly benefits more than 33,500 children under five years of age and more than 52,700 women of reproductive age.

The American Red Cross continues to help increase community access to health information, services, and products through an expanded network of more than 2,200 Cambodian Red Cross volunteers.

Led by American Red Cross field experts, the observers will visit these project sites, and also witness the Vietnamese Red Cross Society's work on typhoon relief, blood collections and services for people living with HIV and AIDS. In Cambodia, they will visit a program that teaches expectant mothers to identify the five danger signs of problems during pregnancy. This program is responsible for saving lives of mothers and their newborns by teaching them health interventions and when to seek immediate medical attention.

The trip will give the observers an opportunity to witness American Red Cross programs in action – and the positive change that generous contributions from donors, partnerships and media coverage can create.

For more information, visit www.redcross.org. For media inquiries, contact Carol Miller at millerca@usa.redcross.org or 202-345-6163 .

As part of the world's largest humanitarian network, the American Red Cross alleviates the suffering of victims of war, disaster and other international crises, and works with other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies to improve chronic, life-threatening conditions in developing nations. We reconnect families separated by emergencies and educate the American public about international humanitarian law. This assistance is made possible through the generosity of the American public.