Why is the Peruvian Red Cross Day celebrated

The Peruvian Red Cross Day is celebrated every April 17, a day that seeks to honor all the efforts of this organization to improve health in the country and help those who need it most.

The Peruvian Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement ; it is considered as a voluntary civil service and auxiliary to the public powers in the humanitarian field. It is characterized because it acts within the framework of the Fundamental Principles of the movement. These are humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, volunteerism, unity and universality.

Here we tell you why the Peruvian Red Cross Day is celebrated on April 17.

Origin of the Peruvian Red Cross Day

The Peruvian Red Cross Day is celebrated on April 17 , because it was on this day but from the year 1879 when it was founded, when our country is in the middle of the War of the Pacific in order to provide humanitarian aid to the entire population that was suffering the effects of the armed conflict.

This happens because on April 5, 1879, all the members of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos met in an extraordinary session to talk about the war. There they unanimously decided to donate all their academic assets during the entire time that the conflict lasted. In addition, they offered their professional services to the Government and a commission was established that was in charge of drawing up a project to organize ambulances that should operate on the battlefield.

The commission presented its report to the dean, who later raised the project to the Government, emphasizing the advantage of separating civil organizations from the military, which should join forces to give aid and assistance to wounded and sick soldiers in battle. .

The Government approved the creation and the "Civil Ambulances of the Red Cross in Peru" were created. However, it was not until a year later, on April 30, 1880, that the Swiss Federal Council decreed that Peru was incorporated into the International Red Cross Movement.

As a curious fact you should know that the Peruvian Red Cross, as certified by the International Committee, is the first of this movement to emerge in America.