Restoring Family Links People in the United States have family ties that link them to nations all over the world. Whenever contact is broken - by warfare, natural disaster or other emergency - concern over the fate of loved ones takes a powerful emotional toll. As part of its mission as a humanitarian organization, the American Red Cross has restored peace of mind for thousands of people by locating loved ones, relaying messages between relatives who have no other way to communicate, assisting in the reunion of family members and helping families find the additional assistance they need. Services provided by the American Red Cross and the International Movement include: • Locating missing loved ones when the separation is due to armed conflict or disaster • Sending Red Cross Messages between separated family members—civilians, prisoners of war, and political detainees • Obtaining information about the fate of civilians, including those separated during the Holocaust & World War II • Securing ICRC travel documents for people who have been offered permanent resettlement • Providing information and referral services American Red Cross International Family Tracing Services accepts tracing cases and traces sought persons when: • Families have been separated as a result of either armed conflict or disaster. • As much as possible, families should have tried normal channels of communication before requesting Red Cross tracing services. • The family member making the inquiry provides essential information on the sought person. • The family member making the inquiry is a close family relative, who has been in direct contact with the sought person before the conflict or disaster occurred. All tracing services by the American Red Cross are completely free of charge. Measles Initiative Each year a disease barely remembered by most Americans kills nearly 480,000 children, half of those in Africa alone. Measles deaths globally have been reduced by 39% and in Africa by 60%, largely due to the Measles Initiative. Measles is the leading vaccine-preventable childhood killer in the world. Millions of children still remain at risk from measles and many children, particularly under the age of five, will die from it. There is good news. Measles can be easily prevented with a simple vaccination that costs less than one dollar per child. As of the end of 2005, the Measles Initiative has vaccinated 217 million children in more than 40 African countries, saving 1.2 million lives. Launched in February 2001, the Measles Initiative is a long-term commitment to control measles deaths starting in Africa by vaccinating at-risk children 15 years old and younger. Leading this effort are the American Red Cross, United Nations Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the World health Organization (WHO). Other key players in the fight against measles include the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and countries and governments affected by measles. After 2005, the Measles Initiative has continued working in
remaining African countries and expanded into Asia, supporting WHO's 47 priority countries and the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy goal to reduce global measles deaths by 90% by 2010 compared to the 2000 levels. The Measles Initiative will heavily focus on the three countries that account for the majority of global measles deaths: India, Pakistan and Nigeria. | 
