Northwest Kiwanis Supports Project Eliminate – to Eliminate maternal/neonatal Tetanus

April 2014 Kenya3 Between March 25 and 29, a delegation from Kiwanis International and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF traveled travel to Kenya to observe UNICEF activities related to prenatal health care, immunizations and education. Kiwanis site visit delegates witnessed UNICEF immunization activities at a small health facility located more than 110 miles from the nearest hospital. Women of child-bearing age received the tetanus vaccine to protect them and their future children from this dreaded disease. Some women waited with their children for more than eight hours in order to receive a vaccination. The delegation also visited a village in the Massai community. In this village 90 percent of births occur at home. There are no roads in or out of the village.

These actions are part of a larger UNICEF effort to immunize two million women in Kenya during the month of March. Kenya is among the 25 countries where maternal and neonatal tetanus is still a public health problem.

Every $1.80 we give provides young women, like those in Kenya, immunity to tetanus for up to ten years. And this immunity is passed on to their children for the first two months of their lives. Better still, these young women will have their children vaccinated, part of a cycle of bettering basic health care which will improve the world, one child and one community at a time.

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