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.
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.
Through vaccination of more than 100 million women of childbearing age, The Eliminate Project will protect both mothers and their future newborns from a centuries-old disease and provide the final push to eliminate MNT.
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. The programs will take place in countries where maternal and neonatal tetanus is still a public health threat. The women and newborns at risk of contracting MNT live in areas scarred by poverty, poor medical infrastructure or humanitarian crises.
