Women's rights are human rights.

The US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, challenged the world to live up to the affirmation made in Cairo: that women's rights are human rights. The US has responded to this affirmation with vigor by recognizing that when given knowledge, education, opportunity, and power, women can be heroines; they can move mountains to help themselves and the others whom they are destined to nurture. The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has implemented numerous programs that will support these heroic acts. These programs include the Girl Power campaign (designed to help girls through the critical period of pre-adolescence), the National Strategy to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (promotes education to encourage abstinence), the National Plan on Breast Cancer, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program (protects the health of low-income women), the Women's Health Initiative at the National Institutes of Health (designed to increase our knowledge about hormone replacement therapy, dietary patterns, and exercise), and a national 24-hour toll-free Violence Against Women hotline (1-800-799-SAFE). Although DHHS has done much in 5 years, the US has a long way to go in dealing with the interconnecting issues of the human rights of women everywhere.