A $50 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will help the Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention complete research on cervical cancer and implement prevention programs in developing countries where the disease is most common.

The five-year program is made up of the following international groups: AVSC International, International Agency for Research on Cancer, JHPIEGO Corp. (affiliated with Johns Hopkins University; Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Program for Appropriate Technology in Health.

"We see this as an opportunity to reach poor middle aged women and prevent needless deaths," says Dr. Sylvia Robles of PAHO's non-communicable diseases program.

The program plan will assess technologies and approaches for screening and treating precancerous cervical lesions. The program will also evaluate the safety and cost-effectiveness of alternative service systems and encourage community involvement in the disease's prevention, a PAHO press release reports.

The research will be done in India, Mexico, Peru, Thailand, South Africa, Ecuador, Venezuela and Central America.

Full text of the article is currently found at:
http://www.paho.org/english/DPI/rl99922a.htm