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World Health Day
2004

Heather Mills-McCartney to Receive Champion of Health Award at PAHO

Washington, April 6, 2004 (PAHO)—Heather Mills-McCartney will receive the Champion of Health award from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) tomorrow, as part of the World Health Day observance devoted to road safety.

The award is being given to the wife of the former Beatle Paul McCartney, who is goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Association, "in recognition of your humanitarian contributions and with gratitude for your support of the global road safety campaign."

Mills has offered her time to support a new campaign being launched on World Health Day this year, "Road Safety is no Accident," agreeing to appear in public service announcements urging drivers and pedestrians to use care to protect themselves and others.

Mills will speak at the briefing on road safety and release of new World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, with experts from the Pan American Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Transportation, the World Bank, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the American Automobile Association, and other organizations.

The road safety campaign to be unveiled tomorrow urges coordinated efforts at the global and regional level, with strategies to increase the use of seat belts and helmets and to reduce speeding and drunk driving.

According to Pan American Health Organization statistics, 128,908 people died in road crashes in the Americas in 2002. More than 76 percent of these deaths occurred on the roads of the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, the most populated countries of the region.

In the United States, the automobile accidents are the leading cause of death of Hispanics under 34 years of age, and the third principal cause of death of all the ages, surpassed only by heart diseases and cancer, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the Department of Transportation of the United States (NHTSA).

Mills initiated her humanitarian career defending the rights of the refugees of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. In 1993 she was struck by a London police motorcycle and had her left leg amputated. After the accident, she launched a program to recycle orthopedic prostheses and provide medical assistance to amputees and to victims of landmines throughout the world.

She is the founder of the Heather Mills Health Trust for amputees, spokeswoman for Adopt-A-Minefield, and a Nobel Peace prize nominee who has spoken widely on behalf of survivors of land mines and of amputees.

PAHO was established in 1902 and is the world's oldest public health organization. PAHO works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and the quality of life of its people. It serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).