Report on – 33rd IC Resolution 3: Time to act: Tackling epidemics and pandemics together (33IC/19/R3) – Austrian Red Cross

Votre État/Société nationale/institution a-t-il/elle incorporé les engagements contenus dans cette résolution dans les plans stratégiques ou opérationnels pertinents ?

Les engagements sont incorporés dans les documents suivants:
Stratégie
Plan opérationnel

Au Régional, National, Local niveau

Précisions :

Austrian Red Cross is following a multi-hazard approach in disaster and crises management. Therefore, we have always been preparing for worst case scenarios (HILPs) and our strategic and operational plans only needed minor adaptation to tackle epidemics and pandemics.

In accordance with paragraph 5 of the resolution, the response as well as preparedness plans were adopted based on data, for example by working with mobility data which was used to track the movement of people and to be able to predict possible hotspots of infections.

Only a few weeks after the resolution was adopted by the 33rd IC, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world and demanded the strengthening of the cooperation between state authorities and Red Cross societies.

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Austrian Red Cross has been involved in the national crises management which involves every level authority in Austria. In fulfillment of our auxiliary role, a number of advisory and operational support tasks was delivered with the Austrian government.

Furthermore, the auxiliary role to the public authorities was exercised by the Austrian Red Cross as operative organization responding to the pandemic. Furthermore, the AutRC collaborated closely with the authorities on any level in the design of new legislative texts and measures. For example, the Epidemics Act authorizes specially qualified persons – in particular paramedics – to assist the authorities in the response.

Relating to paragraph 8 of the resolution, target-group-specific psychosocial and mental health guidelines and information for numerous target groups were developed to be implemented and distributed during pandemics/epidemics through the federal crises management structure at national level.

Votre État/Société nationale/institution a-t-il/elle coopéré avec d’autres partenaires aux fins de la mise en œuvre des engagements contenus dans cette résolution ?

Partenariats avec :
Gouvernement et/ou autorités publiques
Partenaires de l’humanitaire et du développement (par ex. Nations Unies, organisations non gouvernementales, etc.)

Exemples de coopération :

Close collaboration with every level of authorities and with other humanitarian and emergency organizations in the country.

Vous êtes-vous heurté·e à des difficultés dans la mise en œuvre des engagements contenus dans cette résolution?

Difficultés rencontrées :
Priorités concurrentes

Précisions au sujet des difficultés :

We are dealing with differing perceptions of risks on the federal level. Although a pandemic outbreak was rated as the highest risk in national risk analyses, authorities decided to direct main resources mostly to the preparation of other risks.

Les engagements contenus dans cette résolution ont-ils eu une ou des incidences sur l’action et les orientations de votre État/Société nationale/institution ?

Type d’incidence :
La coopération entre le gouvernement/les autorités publiques et la Société nationale a été renforcée.
Des outils/méthodes innovateurs ont été élaborés et sont utilisés.

Précisions au sujet des incidences :

In order to be able to fulfil the commitments of the resolution in regards to epidemic and pandemic outbreaks, AutRC only needed to slightly adapt because we are working based on a multi-hazard approach as outlined above.

Les engagements contenus dans cette résolution ont-ils eu des incidences sur les communautés auxquelles votre État/Société nationale/institution vient en aide ?

Description des incidences :

As the Austrian RC is literally anywhere in Austria and the main actor in health response, every improvement of our system directly translates into a higher impact on communities.