The Belgian Red Cross specializes in the development of evidence-based first aid guidelines and materials. After the update of its basic first aid manual for Sub-Saharan Africa in 2016 (freely downloadable following registration), a brand new manual with advanced first aid techniques, contextualized to Sub-Saharan Africa, is currently being developed. The manual will be used during first responder training programs of several African Red Cross societies, including those of Malawi, South-Africa and Zimbabwe. First responders are laypeople who are trained to be the first line of support within their community when disaster strikes. The guideline features evidence from 13 Cochrane Reviews of 8 different Cochrane groups: Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections (1); Cochrane Airways (2); Cochrane Back and Neck (1); Cochrane Eyes and Vision (1); Cochrane Injuries (3); Cochrane Vascular (1); Cochrane Work (2) and Cochrane Wounds (2).
The First Aid for First Responders Manual will be available by the end of 2019. The evidence included will be available through the evidence summary database of the Belgian Red Cross’ Centre for Evidence-Based Practice (CEBaP). CEBaP recently also launched Cochrane First Aid and will further advocate for the inclusion of Cochrane reviews in first aid guidelines.
