The Eliminate Project will protect mothers and babies from Tetanus

Kiwanis International and UNICEF have joined forces to save the lives of babies and their mothers by eliminating maternal/neonatal tetanus (MNT), a disease that kills an estimated 60,000 newborns and a significant number of women each year. The majority of mothers and newborns dying of MNT live in 40 countries located in Africa, and Southern and East Asia. The disease kills one baby every nine minutes. Its effects are excruciating—tiny newborns suffer repeated, painful convulsions and extreme sensitivity to light and touch. MNT is easily prevented by a series of three vaccinations to women of childbearing age, costing roughly US$1.80. The Eliminate Project: Kiwanis eliminating maternal/neonatal tetanus will raise US$110 million over the next five years to fill the funding gap required to provide an estimated 387 million doses of the vaccine.