(IsraelNN.com) Young artists with a special challenge are exhibiting their works Wednesday at a special showing at the Sheba Medical Center that featured drawings by children from the Middle East and the U.S. who are coping with cancer. Israel National News attended the opening and spoke with one of the young artists.

The exhibition is a project of the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC). MECC was established through an official agreement of the Ministries of Health of Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority. The agreement was signed in Geneva in May 1996. Turkey officially joined the Consortium in June 2004.

The objective of the MECC is to reduce the incidence and impact of cancer in the Middle East through the solicitation and support of collaborative research. Since its inception, MECC’s major activities have been the Cancer Registry Project (CRP), the Small Grants Programme, and the Palliative Care Project (PCP).