ELIMINATING MATERNAL/NEONATAL TETANUS

In June 2010, Kiwanis International in partnership with UNICEF began a global campaign for children, The Eliminate Project: Kiwanis eliminating maternal/neonatal tetanus (MNT). This campaign aimed to raise $110 million and save the lives of millions of mothers and their future babies. Kiwanis achieved its Eliminate Project fundraising goal on December 23, 2016.

MNT is a disease that kills 31,000 babies (one baby every fifteen minutes) and a significant number of women each year. The effects of the disease are excruciating. Infected newborns suffer repeated, painful convulsions and extreme sensitivity to light and contact – even preventing the comfort of a mother’s touch. There is little hope of survival.

MNT is caused when naturally-occurring tetanus spores, found in soil everywhere, come into contact with open cuts during childbirth. It can never be eradicated and can only be eliminated. Elimination is achieved when there is less than one case of neonatal tetanus per 1,000 live births in every district of a country. The disease strikes the poorest of the poor, the geographically hard to reach and those without health care.

However, MNT is highly preventable. An immunization (a series of three doses) of a tetanus toxoid vaccine at an average cost of $1.80 can protect a woman of childbearing age who then passes on the immunity to their future babies. The vaccine has been safely used since the 1940’s.

Thanks to UNICEF, Kiwanis and partners, more than 161 million women of childbearing age have been immunized with two or more doses of vaccine and eliminated the MNT disease in 46 countries.

The world has seen an 85% reduction in newborn deaths from tetanus during the past 18 years, including a 57% drop since Kiwanis joined UNICEF in the fight against maternal and neonatal tetanus in 2010, according to a new report by the World Health Organization.

Kiwanis International is proud of the role we’ve played, but we’re not done.  We remain committed to raising money and funding efforts to save and protect mothers and babies in parts of 12 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe where MNT remains a threat. By targeting this disease, Kiwanis and UNICEF have not only saved lives but also paved the way for other interventions that will boost maternal health and child survival among the poorest, most underserved women and children in the world.

The Eliminate Project is the Kiwanis family’s biggest campaign for children yet. But it’s not our first. There are still children and babies in parts of the world who do not receive enough iodine in their diets, putting them at risk of irreversible brain damage. Fortunately, there is a simple solution: iodized salt.

Kiwanis International has been fighting iodine deficiency, or IDD, since 1994. Working with UNICEF, the Kiwanis family came together to raise funds in support of salt iodization, testing and monitoring, and community outreach and education.

The result: more than $105 million to help kids reach their full potential.

Today, about 88% of households worldwide have access to iodized salt — an outcome that UNICEF has hailed as one of the greatest public health triumphs of the 20th century. Thanks to the Kiwanis family’s success in raising funds and awareness, millions of children have been protected against the devastating effects of iodine deficiency.

In fact, UNICEF has reported that Kiwanis-raised funds are now at work in more than 89 nations — and more than 80 million children in the developing world will be born free of IDD. Kiwanis is also a partner with the Iodine Global Network, the world’s most authoritative voice on iodine nutrition. The Kiwanis Children’s Fund continues to make the elimination of iodine deficiencies a priority.