Susan G. Komen for the CureŽ, Mrs. Laura Bush Welcome Mexico to the Breast Cancer Awareness, Research Partnership
Signing Ceremony in Mexico City Expands Global Initiative Addressing Major Health Concern for Women
MEXICO CITY - March 14, 2008 - Mrs. Laura Bush joined Susan G. Komen for the CureŽ President and CEO Hala Moddelmog and Lic. Margarita Zavala, wife of Mexico's president, March 14 at a ceremony here to initiate the country's involvement in the Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research of the Americas, an initiative that unites experts from the United States of America, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico to affect a measurable decrease in breast cancer incidence and mortality in the Americas.
The Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research of the Americas is an expansion of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research launched by Mrs. Laura Bush and Susan G. Komen for the Cure in 2006. Brazil launched the Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research of the Americas in November 2007. Costa Rica is expected to launch its program later this year.
Empowering women at the grassroots level
Breast cancer accounts for a disproportionately high number of deaths among Mexican women. While countries in the Americas are working to heighten awareness and to provide better screening and treatment for breast cancer, the Partnership represents the first collaborative effort to assist the region in combating the disease, thereby building a program focused on empowering women at the grassroots level.
The Partnership is a locally initiated and locally distributed project to increase access to early detection and to reduce breast cancer deaths through improved awareness, increased clinical resources and more funding for scientific research. Komen for the Cure has tapped the Institute of International Education to be the implementing partner in this project.
Collective effort becomes a reality
At the signing event held in Mexico City's Museo Interactivo de la Economia, Susan G. Komen for the Cure President and CEO Hala Moddelmog, Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Zavala greeted and thanked the large gathering of activists, survivors, physicians, researchers and representatives from organizations involved in the Partnership.
"The global challenge of breast cancer is beyond the capacity of any one partner or sector to address," said Moddelmog. "This unique partnership, facilitated by the U.S. Department of State, is bringing together distinguished medical professionals and breast cancer advocates to work collectively in areas that are critical to reducing breast cancer deaths in Mexico and other regions of the Americas."
Joining Moddelmog at the signing ceremony were Ambassador Antonio O. Garza, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Mexico; Bertha Aguilar, president and co-founder of Asociacion Mexicana contra el Cancer de Mama, A.C., (Fundacion CIM*AB); and Dr. Alejandro Mohar Betancourt, director general of the Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia (INCAN). The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center was represented by Dr. Kendra V. Woods, director of extramural programs.