Although tetanus is a health danger we can easily
manage in the UK, it is still a huge problem worldwide.
Here, babies are offered several important tetanus vaccines through their childhood, that will set them up for life. But as UNICEF are aware, it is still
a huge cause of death in women and babies in many other areas of the world. It is believed that more than a quarter of a million mothers and babies
die each year, in the poorest parts of the planet, while in the developed world, is has become a rare disease.
Now Pampers are helping up to six million people get the right vaccinations to improve worldwide protection against this terrible disease.
The vaccination programme is aimed at protection against maternal and neonatal tetanus, which can kill within a week of a baby being born. The disease is contracted by
newborn babies through contamination of their umbilical stump with tetanus spores following the birth. This may be because an un-sterile instruments
has been used to cut the cord or because in some developing countries it is common practice to rub animal dung into the newly cut cord.
The UNICEF and Pampers initiative will allow pregnant women to get the right vaccinations ahead of the birth, protecting the mother and, as the
anitbodies are passed to the fetus, the baby.
Pampers are selling special UNICEF packs of nappies through November and December, and for each pack sold, they will provide funding
for one tetanus vaccination.
People can also make direction donations to the scheme, via the Pampers website.
For more about the worldwide work that the charity UNICEF does with children, go to www.unicef.org.uk.
