Spreading the Message of Breast Cancer Prevention at the CGI Annual Meeting

By Vera Viner

This week, the leader of the Breast Health and Healing Foundation, Dr. Kathleen T. Ruddy (Founder, President), is in New York City at the 2013 annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. Dr. Ruddy is pressing forward our mission of breast cancer prevention and relating the news regarding the mouse mammary tumor virus and the Cleveland Clinic’s preventive breast cancer vaccine.

The Clinton Global Initiative is a subset and resource of the Clinton Foundation with a purpose of bringing together global leaders to find innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. The annual meetings of the Clinton Global Initiative has brought together Nobel Prize laureates, heads of state, leading CEOs, members of the media, and heads of foundations. The actions of this organization has helped improve the lives of millions of people across the globe. In the last few days, Dr. Ruddy has had the chance to meet various well-known leaders including former Prime Minister of Costa Rica Jose Maria Figueres.

The first CGI event that Dr. Ruddy attended at this convention was titled “Addressing Harmful Practices Against Girls.” The CGI community is devoted to empowering girls and women across the globe. The annual meeting provides another opportunity for members to network and discuss solutions to inequality between men and women.

The event “Addressing Harmful Practices” discussed ways to put an end to impairing traditions to young girls and women such as childhood marriage and female genital cutting, specifically focusing on such practices in East and West Africa. Nice Nailantei Leng’ete, a Masai woman from Kenya, spoke on these issues at the dinner.

Along with our mission toward breast cancer prevention, there are countless other organizations working toward improving the lives of girls and women around the world. If we all come together, such as CGI encourages, we may be able to work toward solving many of the issues plaguing our gender, such as the need to prevent breast and ovarian cancer. Dr. Ruddy is spreading her message at the CGI annual meeting, but I ask you to please spread word about the virus and vaccine through your blogs and social media pages as well as word-of-mouth.