The following circular letter was sent by the ICRC and League chief medical officers to all the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies with a view to rationalizing consignments of medicaments and medical material for emercency medical actions. The circular letter contains practical advice and precise rules to be observed when selecting and packaging emergency relief medicaments.

The success of emergency action in cases of natural disaster or armed conflict depends of the degree of preparedness of personnel and material: it is not necessarily proportional to the number of volunteers or the volume of relief supplies hastily dispatched.