The official establishment of the organization occurred on 15 May 1917, when a group of female teachers from the Girls' Lyceum in La Paz, founded the Red Cross of Bolivia as a volunteer organization to collaborate with the Public Health Service and the army and drew-up bylaws for the organization. The following year, the School of Nurses of the Red Cross was established. Recognition by the International Committee of the Red Cross for the Bolivian Red Cross occurred on 10 January 1923, and the organization became the 50th national society of the federation when it joined the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on 22 January 1923.
