SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR, Feb 14 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) -- People suffering from breast cancer, as well as organisations fighting to curb the disease, will benefit from a postage stamp introduced this month in El Salvador.

The initiative was launched by the Cure Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Airline Ambassadors International, and the First Lady of El Salvador, Ana Ligia de Saca.

"Tragically, some 1.3 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and about half a million people around the world will die from this scourge in 2009," said Nancy Rivard, President of Airline Ambassadors International, who added, "we only wish we could do more."

Dr. Ernie Bodai, a cancer specialist who headed oncological surgery departments at major U.S. Hospitals, set up the BCRS in the United States in 1998. "Since its inception in the United States of America, the stamp has raised over US USD 70 million through the sales of some 900 million stamps," reported Dr. Bodai.

"Hundreds of research projects have been funded with these dollars and tremendous strides have been made," stated McPeak at the stamp launching ceremony in the presence of the First Lady of El Salvador.

Lelei LeLaulu, an international development adviser and board member of Counterpart Caribbean, lauded the initiative which he hoped would be replicated in other Latin American and Caribbean countries: "Philatelic philanthropy is making an important impression in the fight against this dreadful disease."

-- NNN-PRENSA LATINA