Pampers and UNICEF - Make a Difference

What would you say if I told you that a baby dies from the tetanus disease every NINE minutes in the developing world?

What would you say if I told you that the tetanus vaccine, which will save that babies life, costs just 4.4p?

What would you say if I told you that by clicking on a website, you could generate the cost of that vaccine and save that babies life?

Here's how you can help - please read on to find out more about the campaign.

For each of the following actions taken Pampers will donate the cost of a tetanus vaccine to UNICEF which will help protect a woman and child still at risk from the disease.

• Buy the specially marked pack of Pampers – '1 pack = 1 vaccine'
• 'Like' the Pampers Facebook page – '1 like = 1 vaccine'
• Personalise your own Miffy book – '1 read = 1 vaccine
• Download the free Pampers Out and About App and find baby friendly locations in your area – '1 download = 1 vaccine'

The Pampers/UNICEF Make a Difference campaign was launched to a group of UK and Ireland bloggers in London last Friday. I met some amazing people, learnt an huge amount about the incredible job UNICEF do in developing countries and now I am writing this blog post to ask you to take a couple of minutes to support the campaign.

What is the campaign about?

Since 2006, Pampers has partnered with UNICEF to help eliminate maternal and newborn tetanus (MNT) globally with its ‘1 pack = 1 life saving vaccine’ campaign, which has funded 300 million tetanus vaccines to help protect women and their babies around the world. However, MNT still threatens the lives of 130 million women and their newborn babies in 39 countries around the world and it is those women and babies UNICEF is trying to reach now.

What is Maternal and Newborn Tetanus (MNT)?
Maternal and newborn tetanus, are deadly diseases caused by bacteria that lives on dead and decaying matter in soil, animal dung and faeces, and usually begin with the contamination of an open wound. Newborn tetanus occurs when newborns are infected as a direct result of unhygienic birthing practices, such as cutting the umbilical cord with un-sterile instruments, handling it with dirty hands or treating it with contaminated dressings and traditional substances such as ghee, cow dung, ashes and mud. Mothers can be infected with maternal tetanus during an unsafe or unsanitary delivery. Maternal and newborn tetanus are completely preventable through immunisation and hygienic birth practices.

Hardest to Reach

Although MNT is easily preventable, the reality is that a baby still dies from MNT every 9 minutes and there are still approximately 130 million women and their future newborns – equivalent to twice the combined populations of UK and Ireland – who urgently need to be protected. These women and babies live in some of the hardest to reach communities around the world (i.e. those who live in remote, inaccessible communities, those who live in nomadic tribes, those whole live in urban slums and those who live in countries experiencing civil war) with no access to quality healthcare.

Why don't Pampers just give UNICEF a donation to cover the cost of the vaccines?

By adding the UNICEF name to nappies and baby wipes, Pampers gives the campaign global reach and also helps to put the UNICEF name into people's houses. If the money was quietly given to UNICEF, the campaign wouldn't have the same impact in terms of raising awareness of the issue of MNT and ensuring this gets onto the agenda of governments globally.

So, again, how can you help?

• Buy the specially marked pack of Pampers – '1 pack = 1 vaccine'
• 'Like' the Pampers Facebook page – '1 like = 1 vaccine'
• Personalise your own Miffy book – '1 read = 1 vaccine
• Download the free Pampers Out and About App and find baby friendly locations in your area – '1 download = 1 vaccine'

Please take a moment to click on the sites above. It only takes a minute. It's not much to ask really, is it.

For more, first-hand experience of the amazing work being done by UNICEF, please read Tara Cain's very moving account of her trip to Indonesia 'Inspirational People'.

I will also be working with Irish bloggers Lisa at Mama.ie, Sandra at MummyPages and Michelle at New Irish Mammy to raise awareness of the campaign.

Pampers and UNICEF - Make a Difference