If you are parents you will know how precious each life under your roof is. You will also know how many nappies you get through daily. So it may come as no surprise that UNICEF and Pampers are uniting, as they have every year since 2006, to highlight the threat that Maternal Newborn Tetanus (MNT) still presents across vast swathes of the globe.
Thanks to the Pampers UNICEF 1 pack = 1 vaccine campaign, Marina has now received two vital vaccines, thus reassuring her that her baby will be protected from MNT during birth.
Maternal Newborn Tetanus is caused by the spores carried in the soil in the less developed areas of the world, and enter the bloodstream of mothers and babies during delivery due to the unclean environments in which birth takes place. It causes convulsions, and ultimately death, in one newborn every nine minutes.* It likewise has fatal consequences for post-natal mothers.
Yet the collaboration of UNICEF and Pampers in the past seven years has had dramatic effects: more than 300 million vaccines have been provided to protect those mothers and babies against contracting such a preventable disease. Thanks to thousands of mums coming together, Pampers has helped UNICEF eliminate maternal and newborn tetanus in 8 countries.
In addition to the vaccine campaign, the companies also work hard on the ground to promote a safe clean environment for women to give birth in, working with local communities and local lore to show them that local Health Centres can help them bring home their babies. It is impossible to force modern medicine on communities that don’t have the infrastructure or understanding to adopt such things: UNICEF understands this.
But there is more to be done. You can help.
Then, as now, the campaign is simple: every time you purchase specially marked packs of Pampers, they donate the cost of one tetanus vaccine to UNICEF.
Even better, this year you don’t even have to spend anything to help contribute. For every photograph uploaded to the Pampers UK Facebook page, a vaccine will be donated to UNICEF and it’s continued battle to rid the world of MNT.
So whether you buy nappies or not, you can help Pampers and UNICEF continue their determination to rid the world of this preventable illness.
* Statistics found here
*with thanks to Pampers and UNICEF for inviting me to a viewing of their beautiful photographs promoting their campaign earlier this week, and for the delicious lunch. No payment was received for this post.
first of all, doesnt P&G have enough money to donate the shots? second, with clean birth and equipment this problem can also be tackled and not only MNT but other problems, too. Why not spending money on educating doctors and midwives about the importance of hygiene? Wouldnt this be more sustainable?For every ill a pill and for every disease a vaccine?
Hi Kelly, love the blog. I’m writing my masters’ dissertation on the Pampers-UNICEF partnership to eliminate MNT. Could I talk to you about how you learned about the campaign and the event they hosted?
totally: email kellyinnes at hotmail dot co dot uk amd I’ll be happy to help.
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing this.