Worldwide, every year, there are more than two million deaths from domestic accidents, nearly 3 million in the workplace, and sudden adult death affects 5 out of every 10,000 people. Alongside the vital challenge posed by these everyday risks on a global scale, particularly in countries where the emergency and health services are the weakest, other risks are intensifying and posing a growing threat to the health and well-being of individuals and communities. These include natural disasters, exacerbated by the effects of climate change, and technological disasters, which have increased over the last 20 years. It is also the case with conflicts, in all their forms, which increase vulnerability, and with people forced to leave their homes and take to the migratory routes.

In this context, the widespread promotion of first aid skills is a vital need because everyone, individually and at any time, has the capacity to save a life.

 This is why first aid, a voluntary act of humanity, has been at the heart of the mission and identity of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement since its inception. Indeed, more than 160 years ago, during the Battle of Solferino, first aid was given indiscriminately to soldiers, the sick and the wounded, and since that historic event, which founded the very idea of National Societies.

It has been part of the DNA of our Movement.

So, after 15 years within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, I am very proud to take up the position of Director of the Global First Aid Reference Centre of the IFRC. This internationally renowned centre of expertise, founded on a partnership of trust between the International Federation and the French Red Cross, is a unique and essential mechanism for promoting high-quality and science-based first aid, universal and adapted to every context, throughout the world, in support of the 191 National Societies.

The First Aid Vision 2030, adopted by the IFRC General Assembly in June 2022 with tremendous support from National Societies, is our guide. And the centre’s professional and determined team of staff and volunteers, at headquarters in Paris and around the world, is the driving force behind our action, which is entirely focused on supporting National Societies’ first aid programmes and services for the ultimate benefit of the resilience of the world’s populations. The First Aid Vision 2030 objective: 

• At least one person trained in first aid by National Societies in every home, every school, every workplace. 

It’s an ambitious goal, but one that meets the world’s challenges, and together we can achieve it.

The year 2025 begins with major projects ahead of us, including the publication of the IFRC International Recommendations on First Aid, Resuscitation and Education 2025, and many others, and it is thanks to close collaboration with the National Societies that we will bring them to a successful conclusion.

Sendy VEERABADREN

Head of the IFRC Global First Aid Reference Centre