Is tetanus still a killer?
Saturday, 27 December 2008
The government owes the people a statement whether or not Bangladesh could eliminate tetanus by 2007 for which a campaign was launched a few years back to vaccinate three million women. Though the year 2008 has come to an end, it is still not known whether women continue to die due to tetanus at child birth. What is the status of tetanus? The government need to make it clear.
The viral infection, contracted by women due to unsafe practices during delivery, was once a major killer of children in our country. According to official figures, more than 10,000 died in 1989. The number of deaths fell to 252 by 2005 after vaccinating an estimated 86 per cent of women of childbearing age. In 2006, the government announced launching of the last and biggest vaccinations campaign to completely eliminate tetanus from the country by 2007.
Anti tetanus vaccination is a continuous process. A woman needs to get vaccinated three times during childbirth. If the national level campaign is stopped, women must take the vaccine on their own to protect themselves and the children they give birth to, against tetanus from this deadly disease. Many women are still unaware of it. That is why possibly many women did not take the vaccine during the nationwide campaign.
If the country is free from tetanus, the government needs to say so.
Maleka Begum
NGO worker
Savar
The viral infection, contracted by women due to unsafe practices during delivery, was once a major killer of children in our country. According to official figures, more than 10,000 died in 1989. The number of deaths fell to 252 by 2005 after vaccinating an estimated 86 per cent of women of childbearing age. In 2006, the government announced launching of the last and biggest vaccinations campaign to completely eliminate tetanus from the country by 2007.
Anti tetanus vaccination is a continuous process. A woman needs to get vaccinated three times during childbirth. If the national level campaign is stopped, women must take the vaccine on their own to protect themselves and the children they give birth to, against tetanus from this deadly disease. Many women are still unaware of it. That is why possibly many women did not take the vaccine during the nationwide campaign.
If the country is free from tetanus, the government needs to say so.
Maleka Begum
NGO worker
Savar