Florence Nightingale and Henry Dunant are two names which are associated in much that has been written about the Red Cross and army medical services. Only seldom are their outstanding personalities contrasted. Where does the truth lie? In similarity or difference? Let us try to sort things out.

During the last few weeks, ICRC delegates and doctors in the Asian sub-continent have several times visited military and civilian prisoners. As customary, they talked in private with prisoners of their own choosing.

Mr. Raymond Courvoisier, Special Assistant to the President, has been called upon to take office as Assistant to the Commissioner-General of the diplomatic conference for the reaffirmation and development of international humanitarian law in armed conflict.

The ICRC has just published ten new posters in colour from photographs taken by its delegates on mission or by professional photographers. Six illustrate ICRC traditional activities in Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, the Middle East and on the Suez Canal. Four relate to the propagation of the principles and of the Geneva Conventions among youth and armed forces in Mali, Malawi, Upper Volta and Somalia.

In our March issue, we gave details of relief consignments sent by the ICRC to those countries where ICRC delegates are working. Over 15 million Swiss francs worth of foodstuffs, pharmaceutical supplies and medical equipment were forwarded in 1972 to various countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

The ICRC Central Tracing Agency (CTA) is doing a big job in the Asian sub-continent.

In one year, that is from March 1972 to March 1973, the Geneva office dealt with 24,000 inquiries (in round figures) divided into three categories: inquiries from the families of missing civilians or army men (8,000), inquiries about prisoners of war and their families (10,000), and inquiries received mainly from civilians in Pakistan and India (6,000). Moreover, the CTA has computerized 270,000 index cards.