The Red Cross

The Red Cross is a volunteer-led humanitarian organisation that helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are.

The organisation enables vulnerable people at home and overseas to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their own communities.

And when the crisis is over, it helps people recover and move on with their lives.

The charity's work in focuses on four areas:
•    emergency response – to help individuals and communities respond to and recover from emergencies, such as floods, fires and evacuations
•    first aid training – to promote life-saving and other humanitarian skills so individuals can be ready to help their own communities
•    health and social care – to help people during difficult periods of their life, such as an illness, breakdown in support arrangements or bereavement
•    refugees and other vulnerable migrants – to help refugees and work to reunite families separated by conflicts and disasters.

Overseas work focuses on four areas:
•    emergency response – to help communities affected by conflicts and disasters
•    disaster preparedness – work in countries that are vulnerable to disasters, giving communities the skills and tools to survive
•    health and social care – to support vulnerable communities with a range of healthcare needs, including HIV, tuberculosis, community-based healthcare, and water and sanitation
•    international humanitarian law – to promote the international laws governing the way conflicts are fought, minimising the negative effects they have on civilians and combatants.

The Red Cross is a global network of volunteers – the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – responding to natural disasters, conflicts and individual emergencies. There are 186 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around the world, making the Movement the world's largest independent humanitarian organisation.