El Salvador:
Stamp to Fight Breast Cancer
San Salvador - People suffering from breast cancer, as well as
organizations fighting to curb the disease, will benefit from a
postage stamp introduced this month in El Salvador.
The initiative was launched by the Cure Breast Cancer Research
Foundation, Airline Ambassadors International, and the First Lady of
El Salvador, Ana Ligia de Saca.
"Tragically, some 1.3 million women will be diagnosed with breast
cancer and about half a million people around the world will die
from this scourge in 2009," said Nancy Rivard, President of Airline
Ambassadors International, who added, "we only wish we could do
more."
Dr. Ernie Bodai, a cancer specialist who headed oncological surgery
departments at major U.S. Hospitals, set up the BCRS in the United
States in 1998. "Since its inception in the United States of
America, the stamp has raised over US $70 million through the sales
of some 900 million stamps," reported Dr. Bodai.
"Hundreds of research projects have been funded with these dollars
and tremendous strides have been made," stated McPeak at the stamp
launching ceremony in the presence of the First Lady of El Salvador.
Lelei LeLaulu, an international development adviser and board member
of Counterpart Caribbean, lauded the initiative which he hoped would
be replicated in other Latin American and Caribbean countries:
"Philatelic philanthropy is making an important impression in the
fight against this dreadful disease."
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