From January 16 to 18, the GFARC was present in Las Vegas to share its recommendations within the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council (SAC).
The SAC is a biennial event that brings together more than 60 nationally recognized medical, scientific, aquatic and academic experts, as well as representatives from the Canadian Red Cross and external guests involved in the field of first aid training. It is an important forum within the RCRC network for technical production in the field of first aid. Thanks to its well-known scientific method, based on rigorous data analysis and the most reliable factual sources, its expertise is widely recognized by individuals, corporations, emergency responders and healthcare professionals who choose to follow the Council’s recommendations for their training needs.
In fact, the Council’s work is conducted in several well-defined stages that allow it to develop qualitative recommendations. First, members of the various sub-councils gather research conducted around the world, and then the group’s experts study the data, evidence and scientific elements underlying this research. Next, the subcouncils meet to debate and discuss the evidence to determine if and how the information should change their policies and training materials. Finally, the recommendations of the sub-councils are presented to the full Scientific Advisory Board, which discusses and ratifies the debates for dissemination to trainers and the public.
The IFRC’s 2025 International Guidelines for First Aid, Resuscitation and Training project was launched by the GFARC in November 2023. The SAC is therefore a strategic partnership for the development of this reference framework, as the various stakeholders involved are present at this event and as the SAC is an important source of information based on scientific evidence, in the same way as the ILCOR or the CEBaP (Center for Evidence-Based Practice) and the Cochrane First Aid Group of the Belgian Red Cross – Flanders. The ILCOR International Recommendations, for its part, will be published on 22 October 2025.
