Susan G. Komen® and the Caterpillar Foundation Announce Grants to Save Lives and Improve Breast Cancer Care in Latin America

Programs Aim to Address Breast Cancer Early Detection, Training
for Health Care Professionals and Issues in Young Women

DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Global health leaders Susan
G. Komen and the Caterpillar
Foundation today commemorate a five-year partnership in the fight to
reduce breast cancer deaths in Latin American countries with $746,791 in
new grant funding to support programs focused on early detection, young
women, and training for health care professionals.

Since 2011, the Caterpillar Foundation has committed a total of $5
million to support breast cancer programs in Brazil, Mexico and Panama,
and made it possible for Komen to award 29 grants to organizations in
these countries. To date, the partnership has reached:

• Over 10 million women and men with vital breast cancer information.
• 2,377 women with patient navigation and support services.
• 2,540 health care workers, providing the latest breast cancer training.

“Komen and the Caterpillar Foundation have already made an incredible
impact in Latin America with an approach that reaches individuals and
health care providers,” said Komen President and CEO Dr. Judy Salerno.
“The Caterpillar Foundation’s commitment to this region of the world is
helping to reduce the burden of this disease and, ultimately, save
lives.”

In Brazil, advances in the country’s universal health care system have
not adequately addressed increases in breast cancer, and geographic and
social inequalities inhibit patients from receiving quality cancer care.
In Mexico, more than half the women diagnosed with breast cancer are
diagnosed at late stages of the disease (fewer than five percent of
patients are diagnosed early when there are more options for successful
treatment). In Panama, breast cancer patients face significant barriers
in accessing care and must rely on only one cancer hospital serving the
country’s entire population.

“The Caterpillar Foundation is proud of our history with Susan G. Komen
and the impact our investment has had in Latin America,” said Michele
Sullivan, President of the Caterpillar Foundation. “Ensuring women and
medical professionals have education and access to resources is key to
decreasing the breast cancer mortality rate.”

Six organizations in Brazil and Mexico are among several organizations
throughout Latin America selected to receive funding for programs that
aim to improve outcomes for local women:

Brazil

• Pio XII Foundation – Barretos Cancer Hospital seeks to increase
  the rates of early diagnosis of breast cancer through the first
  national training program for radiologists, physicists, technicians
  and screening program managers in Brazil.
• Hospital Perola Byington Study and Research Center will provide
  hands-on training to physicians, gynecologists and mastologists
  through a pioneer model for getting women from screening to diagnosis
  in one clinical visit.
• Instituto Oncoguia will prepare social workers from public
  cancer hospitals and NGOs in Sao Paulo to better inform and guide
  low-income breast cancer patients and their families on patient rights
  and access to cancer treatment.

Mexico

• Tomatelo a Pecho, A.C. will promote early detection and timely
  treatment of breast cancer training through a curriculum developed in
  partnership with the Harvard Global Equity Initiative to educate
  primary care personnel, medical students and members of civil society
  organizations in Mexico.
• Medicos por el Cáncer, A.C. will deliver targeted training
  workshops to improve the quality of breast imaging in public
  institutions and breast centers, and to improve the skills of
  surgeons, radiologists and radiology technicians.
• Asociacion Mexicana de lucha Contra el Cancer A.C. will develop
  tools and resources to educate patients and physicians on the issues
  facing young women with breast cancer in Monterrey, Mexico.

These programs and others support Komen’s goals of delivering needed
education; supporting programs to detect breast cancer at earlier
stages; and ensuring that women have access to quality care throughout
the continuum of care.

Read
more about this partnership and work.

About Susan G. Komen®

Susan G. Komen is the world’s largest breast cancer organization,
funding more breast cancer research than any other nonprofit while
providing real-time help to those facing the disease. Since its founding
in 1982, Komen has funded more than $889 million in research and
provided $1.95 billion in funding to screening, education, treatment and
psychosocial support programs serving millions of people in more than 30
countries worldwide. Komen was founded by Nancy G. Brinker, who promised
her sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would end the disease that claimed
Suzy’s life. Visit komen.org
or call 1-877 GO KOMEN. Connect with us on social at ww5.komen.org/social.

Contacts

Susan G. Komen
Andrea Rader, 972-855-4382
press@komen.org