United Nations Day Program: Promoting Maternal and Child Health
                                                                      October 16, 2006

On this United Nations Day on Tuesday, October 24, 2006, Congressman Jim McDermott, will speak and be the Honorary Chair at a program devoted to maternal and child health worldwide.  Dr. Jacqueline Sherris, senior research and program director at PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), will present on "Preventing Cervical Cancer Worldwide: Personal Tragedies, Public Health Opportunities," which will be followed by responses from physicians from Africa who have witnessed the impact of cervical cancer in their country. 

When mothers die, the children and communities are left without the anchor that holds the social and economic structure together, hence the betterment of maternal health is a fundamental obligation.  The discovery that cervical cancer is largely due to a viral infection and the recent development of a vaccine to prevent this infection now provides an exciting opportunity to extend prevention and treatment of this disease to previously unreachable populations.

It is important to call attention to the enormous differences between the levels of timely and available health care between those living in the developing world and we privileged inhabitants of the developed world.  While technologically advanced and available health care has succeeded in significantly increasing our life spans, the majority of the populations resident in Africa and many parts of Asia have seen little such advancement. 

Recently, PATH has been devoting a major effort to evaluating and introducing strategies for the treatment and prevention of cervical cancer in rural settings in Africa. Dr. Sherris has spearheaded efforts to open the door to availability of these interventions to women in rural African settings and beyond. 

This event, sponsored by United Nations Association Seattle, will take place on Tuesday, October 24, 2006, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 8th and Seneca, Seattle.  Reservations can be made by calling 206-568-1959, or by PayPal at the unaseattle.org website by October 20.