Press Centre
News Note
UN Media Briefing, Kabul
First ever campaign to immunize Afghan women against tetanus set to
begin
KABUL, 26 January 2003 - A groundbreaking campaign to immunize Afghan
women against the killer disease tetanus will be launched on Saturday,
1 February by His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan.
The campaign, which is supported by UNICEF, aims to reach every woman
of child-bearing age between now and the end of 2005 as part of a worldwide
effort to eliminate the disease by that date.
Tetanus is a major killer of newborn children - approximately 200,000
infants and 30,000 women die from the disease each year in developing
countries. Three doses of tetanus toxoid vaccine over a 12 month period
are sufficient to provide five years of immunity to both mother and
newborn child.
In Afghanistan immunization coverage levels are as low as 13 per cent.
The new campaign will involve the use of a innovative injection device,
known as Uniject, which replaces the traditional syringe and needle.
Because Uniject is single-use and simple to administer, non-professionally
trained men and women can administer the tetanus toxoid vaccine.
One of the world's leading experts on tetanus immunization, UNICEF's
senior advisor on tetanus, Dr. Francois Gasse, will be in Afghanistan
this week to monitor the start of the campaign and begin planning a
nationwide assessment of tetanus prevalence amongst women of child-bearing
age. He will be making a special presentation to the media at the UN
press briefing on Thursday 30 January. Dr. Gasse will also be available
for individual interviews with journalists on request.
Further information on the tetanus immunization campaign and the launch
with President Karzai will be made available at Thursday's briefing.
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For more information, please contact:
Chulho Hyun, UNICEF-Media, Kabul
(0702 78493)
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