Building on the success of saving 1.2 million lives through the Measles Initiative in the past five years, the American Red Cross is stepping up its long-term commitment to Africa through disease prevention, disaster response, mother and child health, and clean water programs.

Besides initiating numerous health programs to improve maternal survival and child health, the American Red Cross initiated the Measles Initiative with its partners – the United Nations Foundation, UNICEF, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO). In the first five years of the program, the Measles Initiative has resulted in the vaccination of more than 200 million children in more than 40 African countries, reducing measles-related deaths by nearly 60% throughout the continent.

The Measles Initiative has been so successful in reaching children that the partnership began efforts to combat malaria by distributing insecticide treated bednets during vaccination campaigns. Use of these bednets has been shown to reduce malaria deaths among young children by 20%. The American Red Cross has distributed over 3 million nets and is initiating follow-up programs to ensure continued maintenance and proper usage of the nets.

Responding immediately to the severe floods affecting more than 370,000 people in Ethiopia and Sudan, the American Red Cross is supporting emergency relief efforts and is assisting in families’ long-term recovery. The American Red Cross is working closely with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and supporting African national Red Cross/Red Crescent societies to address food security as a critical component of disaster risk reduction. Thus far this work has improved relief distribution, beneficiary targeting and logistics, as well as longer-term interventions aimed at reducing vulnerability to drought and other slow onset disasters.

The American Red Cross is supporting long term needs for clean water in Kenya and Ethiopia – providing the everyday needs of more than 389,500 people and permanent staff to help manage the programs with local partners. In southern Africa personnel and $1 million in financial assistance has been provided to help communities recover from the recent food crisis and support local Red Cross partners in responding to chronic and cyclical disasters.

Committed to mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS, which kills more than 6,000 Africans everyday, the American Red Cross is supporting community garden programs for AIDS sufferers and their families. The programs not only improve the nutrition of AIDS patients and their children, but also provide them with an additional source of income with which to keep children in school and provide necessities of day to day living. The American Red Cross is also working to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS through its peer education program called “Together We Can.” The program will reach more than 450,000 youth ages 10 to 24 with curriculum, peer-to-peer outreach, “edutainment,” and mass media-based HIV prevention messages. Work is taking place at both the individual and community level to provide a holistic, grassroots response to the HIV pandemic.

The American Red Cross will continue to support the efforts of partners in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as we work together to respond to disasters and to improve the health and livelihood of the most vulnerable throughout the continent.