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Former President George W. Bush is
still active in African health, nearly a decade after championing the US
President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Last September, Bush launched “Pink
Ribbon Red Ribbon,” an $85 million campaign to fight cervical and breast cancer
in Africa being led by his Southern Methodist University-based presidential
institute in Dallas.
“It’s not enough to save a woman
dying from AIDS and have her succumb to cervical cancer. It’s unacceptable,”
Bush said in September.
The campaign’s executive director,
Doyin Oluwole, recently visited Lusaka, Zambia, aiming to help turn cervical
screening and treatment there into a model of excellence for Africa.
“President Bush is on our backs to
ask what we have done in Zambia,” said Oluwole, a Nigerian physician who lives
in Dallas and has spent decades working on African health issues. “I want to
know at the end of six months how many lives we have touched, because without
this, I will not leave Zambia.”
During 2002-07, about 4,500 Zambian
women needed treatment for advanced cervical cancer, but just 350 were sent to
South Africa to receive it, said Groesbeck Parham, one of Zambia’s few
gynecologists. Parham has trained nurses who have conducted more than 80,000
screenings, detecting lesions with vinegar, which turns them white, and using
liquid nitrogen to burn off early-stage lesions. More difficult cases are
referred to Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital for surgery, and a cancer
center there now provides radiation and chemotherapy treatment.
After an informational campaign
aimed at parents, Zambia plans this year to begin vaccinating schoolgirls
against human papillomavirus, the STD responsible for most cervical cancer
cases.
Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon has 15
partners; the Obama administration has pledged $30 million to support it.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
