This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Development Report.
The United Nations Children’sFund, UNICEF, has launched a new program to protect thousands ofwomen and their babies against tetanus. Organisms that enter thebody through a cut or wound cause the disease. It can lead toserious muscle problems. Tetanus can also cause difficulty openingthe mouth or swallowing. Doctors call this condition lockjaw.
The UNICEF campaign will target women in poor communities inAfrica that are difficult to reach. Recently, health workers gaveinjections of vaccine medicine to more than one-hundred-thousandwomen in two areas of Mali. The vaccine will protect the women andtheir newly born children from tetanus. Women at risk must receiveat least three injections of the vaccine over a one-year period tobe fully protected.
Health workers use a special device called a UniJect to give thevaccination. This device includes a needle and the amount ofmedicine needed for one patient. UNICEF says that people with littleor no medical training can successfully use the Uniject device. Forexample, teachers and community workers can be trained in areaswhere there are no health centers. UNICEF says more people can byvaccinated in a short time by using temporary health workers insteadof medical experts.
Marc Vergara is a spokesperson for UNICEF. He says the Unijectdevice has been in use for about twelve years. The tetanusvaccination has been used for about seventy years. And internationalcampaigns to protect people against disease have been carried outfor many years. Mister Vergara says this is the first time all threehave been combined.
Mister Vergara says the UNICEF campaign will extend to otherparts of Mali later this year. If it succeeds, UNICEF and other aidorganizations will plan similar campaigns in other countries. Theyinclude Ghana, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda.
UNICEF reports that tetanus killed two-hundred-thousand newlyborn babies and thirty-thousand women in fifty-seven developingcountries last year. Ninety percent of all tetanus cases are intwenty-seven countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Asmany as seventy percent of all babies who develop the disease die intheir first months of life.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.