Maternal and Neonatal
Tetanus
UNICEF and partners have immunized millions of women all over the globe, helping to eliminate tetanus in dozens of countries. But that work must be accelerated to protect every mother and every child.
A vaccine-preventable disease that still claims thousands of lives every year
Tetanus is an excruciating disease that kills thousands of infants each year. Typically contracted through unhygienic childbirth practices, the disease known as maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) is swift, cruel and lethal.
But tetanus is also highly preventable. Through an affordable vaccine, women of childbearing age can stop tetanus.
Since 1999, UNICEF and its partners have immunized millions of women all over the globe, helping to eliminate the disease in all but 8 of the 59 priority countries.
From 2010-2020, UNICEF and partner Kiwanis International accelerated those efforts as part of an historic initiative that focused on stopping tetanus while also providing other lifesaving services, including clean water, nutrition and other vaccines.
The Global MNT Elimination Initiative — an international private-public partnership that includes national governments, UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, GAVI, USAID/Immunization Basics, CDC, UNICEF National Committees (including UNICEF USA), the Government of Canada, the Government of Japan, Save the Children, PATH, RMHC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Pampers (a brand by Procter & Gamble), BD and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — aims to finish the job.
MNT remains a public health threat in these eight countries:
- Afghanistan
- Angola
- Central African Republic
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Papua New Guinea
- Somalia
- Yemen
Continued investment is essential to sustain progress
Unlike other vaccine-preventable diseases, MNT cannot be eradicated. It is considered eliminated when there is an annual rate of less than one case of neonatal tetanus per 1,000 live births at the district level. Tetanus is not passed from person to person, but through exposure to Clostridium tetani, a common bacterium that exists throughout the environment in soil and animal feces. Women and newborns who are most at risk live in areas scarred by poverty, poor medical infrastructure or humanitarian crises.
Sustaining this progress is essential. Continued investment in routine immunization, the integration of Td booster doses into national vaccination schedules, enhanced community-based surveillance and the strategic deployment of midwives to underserved areas will be critical to protecting future generations.
