Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus
Tetanus is a painful disease that kills one newborn every nine minutes, or 160 babies each day. The disease, typically contracted through unhygienic childbirth practices, is swift, cruel and painful.
But it is also highly preventable with the help of an affordable vaccine.
Since 1999, UNICEF and its partners have immunized nearly 100 million women in 50 countries with two or more doses of the vaccine and have eliminated the disease in 20 countries. But maternal and neonatal tetanus is still a public health threat in 38 countries. The women and newborns at risk of contracting MNT live in areas scarred by poverty, poor medical infrastructure or humanitarian crises.
The Eliminate Project
Kiwanis International and UNICEF have joined forces to combat maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) worldwide. This historic initiative, called The Eliminate Project, will protect the lives of babies and mothers all over the globe and aims to help put an end to this cruel, centuries-old disease.
The final push to eliminate MNT globally will require $110 million and the dedicated work of UNICEF and every member of the Kiwanis family.
The more than 100 million women, along with their future newborns, who will be protected through global MNT elimination efforts along with their newborns live in areas scarred by poverty, poor medical infrastructure or humanitarian crises. The Eliminate Project will also help pave the way for the delivery of other lifesaving services, such as clean water, nutrition and other vaccines.
You can help. Support The Eliminate Project, the historic partnership with Kiwanis International to help rid the world of MNT by 2015.
