Just returned from Liberia; while in Monrovia I got a chance to look at the Oscars and read about the $200K goodie bags that were given out at the event.
The following day my team and I were desperately trying to find ways to raise the $50K needed to buy kits for 8,000 additional HPV tests, each of which could actually save a woman's life, and working on fund raisers that could prepare a room at JFK hospital as an out-patient cancer screening, prevention and treatment center.
Women in Liberia diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer, the two most common cancers, are destined to die because, as Ebola highlighted, the country's health infrastructure is really fragile.
So what could two Oscar bags do for us? We would love to auction off the contents of the bags and use whatever money we raise towards our efforts to eliminate breast and cervical cancer in Liberia and give hope, treatment and empowerment to Liberian women and health workers.
So, which of you celebs can bear to part with your high-value bags, in the name of saving a woman's life?!
Follow our trip on Instagram @MountSinaiGlobalHealth
The Global Women's Health Team
Division of Global Women's Health
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Ann Marie Beddoe MD MPH
Director