The Red Cross’s Public Health Turn
The Cannes Medical Conference of 1919 and the Origins of the League of Red Cross Societies
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Anthem Press
Published:10th Jun '25
£20.99
Supplier delay - available to order, but may not be available until after 8th July 2025.
Explores the 1919 Cannes Medical Conference’s pivotal role in transforming the Red Cross movement’s activities from war-related work to peacetime humanitarian and public health initiatives, highlighting the conference's significant yet largely undocumented legacy.
This book explores 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.
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.
“Fathi paints an illuminating portrait of the Cannes Medical Conference, tracing the origins and outcomes of this landmark event, the personalities involved, and the complex politics associated with it. In so doing, his book recovers a foundational moment in the histories of modern humanitarianism and global health.” — Julia F. Irwin, T. Harry Williams Professor of History, Louisiana State University, USA.
“This eloquent and meticulously researched book uncovers how, from the ashes of the First World War, the 1919 Cannes Medical Conference catalyzed a shift from wartime relief to peacetime public health — paving the way for a new era in the Red Cross Red Crescent movement and international humanitarianism.” — Prof. Dr. Nel de Mûelenaere, Associate Professor in Contemporary History, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Ixelles, Belgium.
ISBN: 9781839994340
Dimensions: 229mm x 153mm x 6mm
Weight: 142g
96 pages