HISTORY OF UKRAINIAN RED CROSS

1918
On April 18 in Kyiv of First Congress of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society was held. This is the date when the Ukrainian Red Cross was established as an independent national society.
1920
The Society organizes thousands of diners for the poor and provides people with millions of food parcels.
1930
The Ukrainian Red Cross Society owns 119 medical, 206 preventive and child care centres, a quarter of all TB dispensaries, 36 healthcare institutions, 800 baths, 300 midwifery stations, 400 pharmacies and sanitation and hygiene shops.
1939-1945
During the World War II, the Society prepares and sends to the front more than 100,000 nurses, health instructors and health brigades. At this time, the Red Cross also initiates free donation. The heroic deed of 17 Ukrainian nurses, who participated in the armed conflict, was awarded with Florence Nightingale Medal – the highest award of the International Committee of the Red Cross. In Ukraine, 23 nurses were awarded with this prestigious global award for exceptional charity in post-war and peace time.
1940-1970
For the Red Cross Society of the Ukrainian SSR, it continued to be important to continue to strengthen ties and cooperation with health authorities and institutions and to involve the broad masses in participation in measures to eliminate the sanitary consequences of the war. The company begins to restore the network of medical institutions, as well as baths, health facilities, canteens. The Ukrainian Red Cross Society is launching its own health service, which includes 180,000 activists. The task of the service was to control the hygienic condition of water bodies, soils and air. Sanactiv is being widely prepared – people who have acquired knowledge in a certain field of medicine in health clubs and provided hospitals, clinics with assistance in caring for the sick at home, children’s health, prevention of infectious diseases.
1961
Creation of the visiting nurses service for medical and social support to vulnerable groups of the population.
1986
More than 10,000 activists, members of the sanitation posts and brigades of the Red Cross took part in evacuation and resettlement of victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe, provided them with medical and social, psychological and material support. The Society distributed 7,000 tonnes of food, 105 tonnes of milk powder, multivitamins, levotyroksin.
1990
On the initiative of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, comprehensive Chornobyl programme was launched. Mobile Diagnostic Red Cross teams carried out an inspection of the affected population, and raised awareness among the population in the affected regions. To support the humanitarian programmes for the Chornobyl catastrophe victims, the Red Cross movement raised more than 35 mln. US dollars.
1992
Аccording to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Tracing Service of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society was established. The main objective of the Tracing Service lies in implementation of measures aimed to search and restore family links that were lost as a result of the World War II, other armed conflicts, natural disasters, emergencies and migration.
1992
The President of Ukraine issued a Decree on the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, which recognizes it as the only national Red Cross Society of Ukraine in our country authorized to assist the national authorities in their activities in the humanitarian sphere.
1993
The society was officially recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva and became a fully-fledged member of the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies.
1999
The Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) of Ukraine adopted the law “On the Red Cross and Red Crescent Emblems in Ukraine”. This law defines the order and conditions of use and protection of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent emblems in Ukraine.
2002
Adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On the Ukrainian Red Cross Society”, which regulates the issues related to the activities of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, as well as the legal status and legal framework of its activity.
2009
The Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) of Ukraine ratified the 3rd Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions signed in 1949 ‘On the Red Crystal’.
2013-2016
The Society works in a special mode: Emergency Response Teams are created to provide aid to those who were affected during the civil unrest, especially in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Vinnytsya and Vinnytsya region. The Society focuses on support to the affected and displaced people from the conflict zone and the Crimea, continuing to provide care to the vulnerable population. The Society is developing psychosocial support as a direction of its activity.
since 2016
The Society is undergoing reforms and organisational development to strengthen the main areas of activity: the development of the volunteer movement, first aid training, emergency response, dissemination of knowledge aimed at protecting the population, helping the most vulnerable and more.
2020
Pandemic COVID-19. The society mobilises all possible resources to counteract its spread among the population. The Society provides information on COVID-19 and vaccination; transfers equipment and personal protective equipment to medical institutions, and strongly supports vulnerable groups during the pandemic.