The Red Crosss Public Health Turn
The Cannes Medical Conference of 1919 and the Origins of the League of Red Cross Societies
By (author) Romain Fathi

Publication date:
10 June 2025Publisher
Anthem PressDimensions:
229x153mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781839994340
This book is about the Cannes Medical Conference of April 1919 and its long-lasting impacts in the humanitarian space. In the aftermath of the First World War, as the world order was being redesigned, this conference served to shift the Red Cross movement towards peacetime and public health work. The book examines the origins, course and consequences of the Cannes Medical Conference, and its wider legacy within the Red Cross movement: a legacy which is very significant yet almost completely undocumented. The book demonstrates that this medical conference was a watershed moment that served to pivot the Red Cross movement across the world, from war and conflict-related activities to peacetime programs such as relief, disease and disaster management.
“In the wake of war and humanitarian catastrophe, the 1919 Cannes Medical Conference marked an important, though often misunderstood moment in the shift to address public health within civil society at a global level. Romain Fathi’s meticulously researched book is essential for anyone interested in the conceptual and practical legacies of the Great War.” — Bruno Cabanes, Donald and Mary Dunn Chair, The Ohio State University, USA.