Guinea-Bissau: first-aid workshop
06-12-2010 News Release 10/221
Dakar (ICRC) – Some 30 volunteers of the Red Cross Society of Guinea-Bissau from various parts of the country, together with nurses working in emergency services in the capital's hospitals, will take part in an advanced workshop on first aid that will take place from 6 to 17 December.
"The aim of the workshop is to enhance the skills of National Society volunteers so as to ensure better casualty management, especially in situations of violence," said Anna Gatteschi, head of the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Bissau. "Another aim is to improve the transfer of patients to hospitals."
The workshop will also cover the rules of international humanitarian law ensuring that everyone has access to health care in armed conflict and other violence, and the protection granted medical personnel in the performance of their duties.
The ICRC has been working since 1998 in Guinea-Bissau, where it visits detainees, endeavours to raise awareness of international humanitarian law among the country's political authorities and armed forces, and works in cooperation with the Red Cross Society of Guinea-Bissau to boost its capacity. In the north of the country, the ICRC provides aid for local residents and for refugees from Casamance. The ICRC office in Bissau operates under the administrative umbrella of the organization's regional delegation in Dakar, which also covers Cape Verde, Gambia and Senegal.
For further information, please contact:
Alfa Djalo, ICRC Bissau, tel: +245 592 89 17
Wolde-Gabriel Saugeron, ICRC Dakar, tel: +221 77 529 71 45