Mills Promotes Road Safety as PAHO's Newest Health Champion

Heather Mills-McCartney (left) described the 1993 traffic crash that cost her part of her leg, during PAHO's World Health Day observance. Mills appears in a PAHO PSA on road safety. Photo ©Armando Waak/PAHO

The wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney is widely known for her worldwide campaigning against landmines and on behalf of landmine survivors and amputees. The United Nations Association has made her one of its goodwill ambassadors.

PAHO's award was made in recognition of Mills' humanitarian contributions and for her support of the 2004 World Health Day Campaign, "Road Safety Is No Accident." Mills appears in a PAHO public service announcement, aired worldwide, that recalls her own loss of a leg in a traffic incident and urges drivers and pedestrians to protect themselves and others.

On World Health Day, Mills participated on a panel of experts and provided details of how she lost her leg in 1993.

"I had recently returned from Yugoslavia, where I could have been killed by a landmine or a sniper. But it was a sunny August day, in a London street," she recalled. "I was crossing the street carefully when a police motorcycle came along and chopped off my left leg, crushed my pelvis and punctured my lung. I flew one way, and my leg flew the other way."

Mills' mother also nearly lost a leg in a traffic accident years ago, and she later died of causes related to those injuries.

Following her recovery, Mills launched a program to recycle orthopedic prostheses and provide medical assistance to amputees from lower income countries.

A Panama City bus displays banners promoting traffic safety for World Health Day 2004. Photo ©José Ojo/PAHO Panama

Mills, who was once a runaway homeless teenager, began her career as a model and entrepreneur. After traveling to the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, she became an advocate for refugees. Following her 1993 accident, she launched her prosthetics recycling program and, after meeting Paul McCartney, established with him the organization Adopt-a-Minefield, dedicated to helping landmine survivors and banning landmines worldwide. She was nominated for a Nobel peace prize in 1996.

For PAHO's 2004 road safety campaign, Mills appeared in a PAHO-produced public service announcement in which she tells viewers: "I used to have great legs, until one human error took one of them away. Ninety percent of all car crashes worldwide are caused by human error. Drive and walk safely. You will protect yourself and those around you. Road safety is no accident."

The PSAs have aired on television stations around the world, and television programs including Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition have done segments on the PAHO campaign.

Mills told members of PAHO's World Health Day audience that she did not mind publicly recalling the details of her accident or appearing in the PSAs without her prosthetic leg because she felt people would respond better to a personal story than simply to statistics.