Frank Mahoney is a Captain in the US Public Health Service and is seconded by the Centre for Disease Controle (CDC) to the Community Health Unit of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) as a Senior Officer for Immunisation, leading the IFRC’s efforts to scale up the National Societies social mobilisation and immunisation capacities, both in vaccination campaigns (polio, measles and rubella) and routine immunisation. Mahoney recently led the CDC Team in the Ebola Response in Nigeria and Liberia, after having led the Polio Reponses Project in Nigeria. He has also served in a variety of assignments in Disease control, including 10 years in the Eastern Mediterranean Region with the US Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 and the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) of the World Health Organization. He is a member of the EMRO Technical Advisory Group on Immunization. CAPT Mahoney is the author of numerous scientific publications and book chapters and is a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the John Snow Society. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, with nearly 100 million members and volunteers. Founded in 1919, the IFRC comprises 186 member Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, a secretariat in Geneva and more than 60 delegations strategically located to support activities around the world. Our strength is in our volunteer network, our community-based expertise and our ability to give a global voice to vulnerable people.

The IFRC is a proud member of key global vaccination partnerships, including the GAVI Alliance, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), the Measles Initiative (MI), and the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Meningitis and Yellow Fever. IFRC also supports its sister National Societies to be active partners in strengthening health systems and improving routine immunisation through their community based health activities.

In 2010 alone, National Societies participated in almost thirty (30) measles and polio supplementary immunisation activities (SIAs), mobilizing more than 14,000 Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers to reach 4.5 million beneficiaries with immunisation messages. Since 2005, the IFRC has invested upwards of US$ 5 million in support to measles and polio SIAs through its Global Measles & Polio Initiative.

IFRC takes a rights-based approach to health, with vaccination being a key contributor to improving the health of communities and populations. It advocates for improved equity in immunisation and for immunisation services to reach the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach. In disaster and emergency situations, the IFRC responds to health needs, including vaccination. For example, after the Haiti earthquake, the IFRC vaccinated more than 152,000 people against measles, diphtheria and rubella through its Emergency Response Units. The Red Cross Red Crescent also contributed funding to the nationwide vaccination campaign which immunized some 928,000 people.