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 2025

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

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.

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1-Tectonic Shifts in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement; 2-Justifying the First Humanitarian International Public Health Organisation; 3-An American Initiative or a ‘Natural Evolution’ for the Red Cross Movement?; 4-Knowledge is the Cure; 5-Designing the Organisational Structure of the Red Cross’s Peacetime Body; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography

“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.