News

Maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination update

Nov 03, 2015

Together with the Canadian government match, The Eliminate Project has raised more than US$102.7 million in cash and pledges as of October 16, 2015. These funds will help save or protect more than 55 million women and their future newborns from maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT).
 
Remember, every gift makes a tremendous difference to families around the world. UNICEF will reach more than 3.3 million women through tetanus immunization activities in the coming months, provided funding is available.
 
Our partners at the U.S Fund for UNICEF provided the Tetanus Toxoid Supplemental Immunization Activities (TT SIAs) updates below. These are examples of the work made possible through generous donors, including Kiwanis club members like you. In fact, we hope to celebrate another victory over MNT in Equatorial Guinea. Later this month, a validation survey will determine whether or not there is fewer than one case of neonatal tetanus per 1,000 live births in every district of the country (the definition of elimination).
 
Additional upcoming activities include:
  • Angola has scheduled a pre-validation assessment this month. A pre-validation assessment reviews a country’s survey data to determine whether it has reached enough women of childbearing age—and whether it is ready to be validated by the World Health Organization.
  • Ethiopia scheduled a validation survey for the remaining part of the Somali region in December.
  • Haiti completed the last round of tetanus immunizations last month and is aiming for a pre-validation assessment in November or December.
  • Niger scheduled a pre-validation assessment last month.
  • Pakistan is aiming for pre-validation in the Punjab district (which contains 53 percent of the total population) in the last quarter of 2015 followed by the validation survey in the second quarter of 2016.
  • Kenya plans to conduct the final round of immunizations in 21 districts in the first quarter of 2016.
  • Papua New Guinea plans to conduct targeted campaigns in 15 provinces in 2015.
  • Philippines is finalizing plans for immunizations scheduled in January 2016.
  • South Sudan will conduct the third round of immunizations in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Western Bahr el Ghazal states in the first quarter of 2016.
Thank you for helping Kiwanis change the world. Let’s keep up the great work so we can achieve our goal.