Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com
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Sports, Health & Lifestyle
Written By: Observer Staff
Article Date: Apr 15, 2008 - 7:57:16 AM
A massive national campaign to vaccinate women in the childbearing age against the dreaded disease of maternal and neo-natal tetanus was given a high profile start from the Mosaimeer district in the Lahej Governorate last Sunday.
The first round of the campaign targeting 60 high risk districts in the four Governorates was launched by the Minister of Public Health and Population, Dr. Abdul-karim Rase’a and the Governor of Lahej, Abdul-Wahab Yehya al-Durra in the remote district to illustrate government’s commitment to reach out women in the areas where the coverage remains low. The five day campaign is targeted to reach over 900,000 women, with a sharp focus on pregnant mothers in sixty districts of the governorates of Lahej, Hodaida, Dhale and Ibb.
The campaign is a collaborative effort by UNICEF, WHO, Gavi and the Government of Yemen. Around 4000 health workers, mostly women are in the forefront of Maternal and Neonatal vaccination to encourage young and would-be mothers to get vaccination against the dreaded disease of maternal and neo-natal tetanus. The vaccination of women in childbearing age suffers due to cultural practices and poor primary health care services and remains extremely low. The ambitious national effort has been carefully crafted around micro-planning and is supported by 655 fixed and temporary sites supplemented by 1319 mobile teams.
Yemen is among the 47 countries in the world that have yet to eliminate Maternal and Neo-natal tetanus. Recent campaigns supported by UNICEF in the developing countries have shown that elimination of MNT is an achievable goal. Countries such as Eritrea, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo and Zimbabwe have already eliminated MNT.
“Tetanus threatens new born babies and mothers during pregnancy and delivery and its vaccination benefits them equally. We are determined to confer this much needed protection on new born babies, expectant and would-be mothers as a priority of our immunization efforts,” said the UNICEF Country Representative in Yemen, Aboudou Karimou Adjibade, in his message on the eve of the campaign.
Adjibade lauded the committed efforts of the Yemeni Government and active role of the governorates in the campaign that has been build around micro planning and mobilization of the human resources at a gigantic scale. He said that Yemen urgently needs to reach women in childbearing age, as they are vulnerable to deadly disease due to lack of effective antenatal care and a lack of skilled birth attendants. Maternal tetanus strikes women during pregnancy or within six weeks of termination of pregnancy. Deliveries that are unclean or unsafe expose all mothers to this deadly disease.
In the first round, the MNT campaign is focused on 60 districts that are characterized by limited access to routine vaccination for pregnant mothers and insufficient antenatal care, where skilled delivery attendants are not available. The second round of the national MNT campaign is scheduled for May and the 3rd round will take place after six months. The 5-day campaign builds on Yemen’s accelerated disease-specific strategies through micro-planning and community based communication strategies. A major part of the campaign is disseminating messages on safe motherhood and use of hygienic practices through radio, social mobilization campaigns and awareness creation printed material. UNICEF’s new Country Program Plan of Action (2077-2011) is pursuing the maternal and newborn care as a priority.