Before trying to show what this difference is, we must firstly locate the nursing profession among all those other professions that together work to improve health. The very fact that the nurse falls within this category of professions means that she shares a number of characteristics with those working in other fields, e.g. she is devoted to the service of others, she is concerned about the individuality of each person, she has the power to intervene in the physical, psychological or social life of the person in her care, etc. Similarly, we must ignore certain characteristics concerning the particularly low economic status of the nurse, the fact that this profession is an almost exclusively feminine domain and that it commands a rather modest social position.

The International Federation of Blood Donors held its seventh Congress in Monaco in October 1971, and the report of its work has now been published. This reproduces various technical communications on, inter alia, “The Importance of Blood Donation for Organ Transplants” and current blood transfusion problems. It contains also a report by the Belgian Red Cross Society's constantly developing blood donor service, for the number of donors has unceasingly increased from 131,000 in 1969 to 147,000 in 1971.

At the invitation of the Hungarian Red Cross, Mr. Marcel A. Naville, President of the ICRC, accompanied by Mr. Melchior Borsinger, ICRC Delegate-General for Europe and North America, visited Hungary from 26 June to 2 July 1972.

In Budapest, the President of the ICRC was granted an audience by Mr. Losonczi, Chairman of the Presidium of the Hungarian People's Republic. In the absence of the Prime Minister, Mr. Naville conferred with Dr. Miklos Ajtai, Deputy Prime Minister, with Dr. Karoly Csatordai, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, and with Dr. Bela Toth, Deputy Minister of Health. The President of the ICRC made a statement before representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, the Interior and Health. On behalf of the Standing Commission of the International Red Cross, he conferred the Henry Dunant Medal on Miss Katalin Durgo, whom he commended for her essentially humanitarian career and great merit. Miss Durgo has been a nurse in the Hungarian Red Cross for more than fifty years.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, accompanied by the Director-General of the European Office of the United Nations, Mr. Winspeare Guicciardi, visited the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross on 4 July 1972. He was welcomed by Mr. Marcel A. Naville, President, and several members of the Committee and Directorate.

The UN Secretary-General and the ICRC President discussed in private the work being carried out by the ICRC for the development of international humanitarian law, an undertaking with which the United Nations is closely associated. They conversed also on the functions of their respective organizations in disaster relief. In addition, Mr. Naville informed Mr. Waldheim of the ICRC current activities in the world, particularly in the Asian Sub-Continent.

The Neutral Commission appointed by the ICRC to decide on claims made by Polish victims of pseudo-medical experiments carried out in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War met at ICRC headquarters in Geneva on 17 and 24 June 1972. The Commission comprises Mr. W. Lenoir, Chairman of the Neutral Commission and Judge of the Geneva Law Courts; Dr. S. Mutrux, Assistant Administrator of the Bel-Air Psychiatric Clinic in Geneva, and Dr. P. Magnenat, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Assistant at the University Clinic of the Nestlé Hospital in Lausanne.

As usual, the International Committee has published a report, with illustrations, reviewing its activities over the past year.

The numerous and varied activities are summarized in the first three parts, while the fourth part is devoted to the ICRC's financial position and the Special Funds which it administers. Under the heading “Operations”, there is an account of the institution's activities in Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia, where its operations in Vietnam and on the Asian sub-continent called for widespread action.

Two events had a considerable impact on the ICRC's financial position in 1971:

(a) The message which the Swiss Federal Council addressed to the Federal Assembly, on 8 September 1971, regarding the Confederation's contributions to the International Committee of the Red Cross;

(b) Payment by the Government of the United States of America of an extraordinary contribution of 1 million dollars, on 29 June 1971.

Some months ago the Henry Dunant Institute, in co-operation with Messrs Sandoz S.A., undertook an enquiry into Health and Medicine in the 1980's in the developed countries. Following the Delphi method, it has so far given some interesting results.

From the replies of sixty-three experts in eighteen countries to two successive questionnaires, it is apparent, in the first place, that the concept of health will extend over the next two decades to cover social and mental conditions which are not at present considered health problems.

In Manila a seminar organized by the Philippine National Red Cross in co-operation with the League of Red Cross Societies was held from 7 to 16 May 1972. The League was represented by Mr. R. M. Pierpont, Under Secretary-General and Head of Relief Section; Mr. K. J. Seevaratnam, Regional Officer for Asia; and Mr. Sven Lampell. Delegates from the National Societies of the following countries took part: Australia, Ceylon, Great Britain, Indonesia, Japan, the Khmer Republic, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. One of the highlights of this Institute was the participation for the first time in a Red Cross regional meeting of Governmental and non-Governmental Agencies.

For the National Society, Red Cross Day has become the occasion of a general assembly at which its members, friends and government representatives gather. This happened again this year, and Dr. Victor Laroche, President of the Haiti Red Cross, outlined the institution's activities during 1970–1971. First-aid certificates were then presented to schoolchildren and to members of some army corps who had attended first-aid and life-saving courses. The ceremony closed with demonstrations by first-aid brigades.

Monuments to Henry Dunant's memory exist in a number of countries. The latest is the one inaugurated in Mexico by the National Society last October. The ceremony, which took place on the esplanade in front of the Mexican Red Cross hospital, simultaneously commemorated two other important events: the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Mexican Red Cross, and the presentation of the Florence Nightingale Medal to Mrs. Dolores Campos de Estrada, as announced in our May 1971 issue.

At the inauguration of the Spanish Red Cross radio transmitter, H.R.H. Don Juan Carlos de Bourbon, Prince of Spain, addressed a message to the ICRC in which he recalled the work of the Red Cross on behalf of the victims of conflicts, the essential meaning of the humanitarian idea at the present time, and the importance of the Red Cross as a link between peoples and as a peace factor. The Red Cross should have the support of one and all because its endeavours were based on the ideal of human dignity.

The Togo Red Cross is now publishing an information bulletin (Notes d'information) intended, as its Central Committee says in the first issue which has just reached us in Geneva, to reflect the National Society's image and to make its activities known both nationally and internationally. Several articles describe the work at present being carried out at the central headquarters and the local sections. A report is also given on the Society's general meeting in Lomé last February at which some important decisions were reached, particularly for the blood transfusion and antituberculosis campaigns.