合作伙伴报捷：59个重点国家逾半已成功击退破伤风 | 最新消息 | 讯息中心 | 联合国儿童基金香港委员会 UNICEF Hong Kong

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合作伙伴报捷：59个重点国家逾半已成功击退破伤风

2013-05-15

纽约／香港，2013年5月15日──「根除孕产妇和新生儿破伤风倡议项目」的合作伙伴，今天在年度会议中宣布，全球59个重点国家中，逾半已成功击退的母婴杀手的致命元凶之一──破伤风。

每9分钟便有1名新生儿死于破伤风，当中几乎所有夭折的新生儿，都是出生于最弱势地区及社区的贫困家庭。

A woman is vaccinated against tetanus at a health outreach centre in the village of Kakail Chew in the eastern Ajmeriganj Subdistrict. The village is in the country's remote 'haor', or wetlands area, which is submerged under water for almost half the year. During the flooding period, villages become 'islands' and access to services is limited. In 2006, Bangladesh continues its decades-long trend toward reducing neonatal, infant and child mortality, and is on track to achieve Millennium Development Goals for both child and maternal mortality reduction. In the last two years, sanitation coverage has also increased, and the Government aims to achieve 100 per cent coverage by 2010. However, entrenched poverty and the lack of stable governance continue to threaten the lives of children. An estimated 30 million children live in poverty, lacking minimum access to health, education and basic social services, especially in remote, rural areas. Despite modest improvements in child stunting levels, the nutritional status of children and pregnant women remains inadequate. The problem of malnutrition begins at birth, with approximately one-third of infants born underweight. In addition, arsenic contamination in the groundwater remains affects 12 to 15 million people. UNICEF supports programmes to reduce infant and maternal mortality and improve the health and nutritional status of pregnant women. UNICEF also supports early childhood development and primary education, especially for girls; immunization and growth-monitoring programmes; and community-based water and sanitation initiatives.

A health worker prepares a pentavalent vaccine at a health centre in the community of Corosal in Cobán Municipality, in Alta Verapaz Department. The pentavalent vaccine protects against five common diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b (also called Hib, a cause of pneumonia and meningitis). The centre, which is open once a month, serves a population of 1,000, and is run by the Ministry of Health with support from UNICEF. Volunteer health workers provide routine health care and immunizations for pregnant women and children under 5 in five surrounding communities. [#2 IN SEQUENCE OF THREE] In November 2012 in Guatemala, the Government and other partners are continuing to assure sustained routine immunization of children now reaching 92 per cent of all infants against a range of vaccine-preventable diseases. The countrys last endemic case of measles was in 1997. In the entire Americas Region (covering North, Central and South America), the last endemic measles case was in 2002 and the last endemic case of rubella was in 2009 part of global efforts to eradicate these diseases. Worldwide, measles remains a leading cause of death among young children: In 2010, an estimated 139,300 people mainly children under the age of 5 died from the disease. Nevertheless, these deaths decreased by 71 per cent from 2001 to 2011, thanks in part to the Measles & Rubella Initiative, a global partnership led by the American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WHO and UNICEF. In Guatemala, despite this success, significant other challenges for children remain, much of it related to poverty levels that affect more than half of all children and adolescents. Poverty also contributes to chronic malnutrition affecting half of all under-5 children (with higher rates among indigenous populations); an average national education level of under six years of primary school (under three years for the rural poor); and high, though decreasing, rates of violence. Guatemala is also one of the worlds most vulnerable countries to climate change, suffering a major climate-related emergency every year since 2008. On the positive side, birth registration is improving, with more than 95 per cent of newborns now being registered. UNICEF is working with the Government and other partners to sustain achievements in health, address the high levels of malnutrition, strengthen responses to crimes against children and increase protection services for children throughout public services.

衞生环境恶劣、使用未经消毒的物件切割脐带或接触肚脐，都有机会令新生儿感染破伤风，並且威胁母亲的性命。事实上，妇女只需接种至少3剂预防破伤风的疫苗，成本约港币16元（2美元），便可为自己及将来诞下的婴儿提供长达5年的保护。

自1999年起，全球52个国家已有逾1.18亿名达到生育年龄的妇女接受了破伤风防疫注射。她们当中很多都参加了综合计划，在接受破伤风防疫注射的同时，亦获得麻疹防疫注射、维他命A补充剂、驱虫剂以及脐带护理资讯等保护儿童健康的服务。

「根除孕产妇和新生儿破伤风倡议项目」，是一项展示出伙伴如何合力取得成果的典范。2000年，即项目开始后一年，当时估计每年有超过20万名新生儿死于破伤风；到2010年，因破伤风而夭折的婴儿数目，已下降至每年约58,000宗。

纵使项目有所进展，现时仍有逾28个重点国家尚未达到根除破伤风的目标。要在2015年前达成全球目标──在所有重点国家根除孕产妇和新生儿破伤风，实在困难重重。

局势不稳、文化障碍、与其他重点工作争夺执行的优先次序、确保确诊后推行持续的根治工作，以及资金不足，都是妨碍工作人员进入社区，推行根除孕产妇和新生儿破伤风工作的主要挑战。

(Right) Alba Flor Bol, an indigenous Mayan woman, holds her 3-month-old daughter, Esteyner Leandrinho Chen, as health worker Lourdes Rodriguez administers a pentavalent vaccination, at a health centre in the community of Corosal in Cobán Municipality, in Alta Verapaz Department. The pentavalent vaccine protects against five common diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b (also called Hib, a cause of pneumonia and meningitis). The centre, which is open once a month, serves a population of 1,000, and is run by the Ministry of Health with support from UNICEF. Volunteer health workers provide routine health care and immunizations for pregnant women and children under 5 in five surrounding communities. [#3 IN SEQUENCE OF THREE] In November 2012 in Guatemala, the Government and other partners are continuing to assure sustained routine immunization of children now reaching 92 per cent of all infants against a range of vaccine-preventable diseases. The countrys last endemic case of measles was in 1997. In the entire Americas Region (covering North, Central and South America), the last endemic measles case was in 2002 and the last endemic case of rubella was in 2009 part of global efforts to eradicate these diseases. Worldwide, measles remains a leading cause of death among young children: In 2010, an estimated 139,300 people mainly children under the age of 5 died from the disease. Nevertheless, these deaths decreased by 71 per cent from 2001 to 2011, thanks in part to the Measles & Rubella Initiative, a global partnership led by the American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WHO and UNICEF. In Guatemala, despite this success, significant other challenges for children remain, much of it related to poverty levels that affect more than half of all children and adolescents. Poverty also contributes to chronic malnutrition affecting half of all under-5 children (with higher rates among indigenous populations); an average national education level of under six years of primary school (under three years for the rural poor); and high, though decreasing, rates of violence. Guatemala is also one of the worlds most vulnerable countries to climate change, suffering a major climate-related emergency every year since 2008. On the positive side, birth registration is improving, with more than 95 per cent of newborns now being registered. UNICEF is working with the Government and other partners to sustain achievements in health, address the high levels of malnutrition, strengthen responses to crimes against children and increase protection services for children throughout public services.

「根除产妇和新生儿破伤风倡议项目」为国际性的公私营合作项目，合作伙伴包括：各国政府、联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）、世界衞生组织、联合国人口基金、全球疫苗与免疫联盟、美国国际开发署旗下的「基础预防接种计划」（Immunization Basics）、疾病预防控制中心、UNICEF国家委员会、日本政府、救助儿童会、适宜衞生技术规划、麦当劳叔叔之家慈善基金、比尔及梅琳达．盖茨基金会、国际同济会、宝洁（P&G）辖下婴儿尿片品牌帮宝适（Pampers），以及医疗技术公司BD。

Nurse Emmanuel Kalwazi fills a syringe with tetanus toxoid vaccine, which he will administer to a pregnant woman in Mukanga-Moke Village, Katanga Province. The vaccines have been provided by UNICEF. [#4 IN SEQUENCE OF ELEVEN] In Feuary 2011 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women and children remain vulnerable to maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), an infection that has no cure but is preventable with routine immunization. MNT threatens the lives of 130 million women and babies in 38 countries around the world, including D. R. Congo, where the disease sickened at least 1,038 babies and killed 483 last year. Globally, the disease kills 59,000 infants within their first month of life, the equivalent of one death every nine minutes, every year. Limited access to basic health services and poor hygiene conditions during birth are the major contributors to MNT mortality: Many infections take place when women give birth at home, alone or in the presence of an untrained birth attendant. Delivery on unclean surfaces and handling with unclean hands or instruments increase the chance of MNT infection in both mother and baby. Yet three doses of the tetanus toxoid vaccine one of the worlds safest and least expensive vaccines protects almost 100 per cent of recipients from the disease. Additionally, children born to immunized women are protected from the disease for the first two months of life. Since UNICEF re-launched its MNT Elimination Initiative in 1999, at least 20 countries have achieved the goal of eliminating MNT, and since 2006, private-sector partner Pampers has donated funds for 300 million vaccines. In D. R. Congo, this initiative is promoting vaccination among girls and women of child-bearing age, particularly in southern provinces where health infrastructure is weak and vaccine shortages are common. The goal of the initiative is to eliminate cases of MNT from the world by 2015.

In October 2010, UNICEF and partners helped organizing a vaccination campaign in Bossangoa to immunize children against polio, tetanus, hepatitis B and diphtheria - among other diseases. On the day it started, women and children danced and chanted near the health care centre to call all the community members to ing their children to be vaccinated. Afterwards, long queues were formed with mothers and their children to make sure every child was covered.

已根除孕产妇和新生儿破伤风的国家包括：孟加拉、贝宁、布基纳法索、布隆迪、喀麦隆、中国、科摩罗、刚果、科特迪瓦、埃及、厄立特里亚、加纳、几内亚比绍、伊拉克、利比亚、马拉维、莫桑比克、缅甸、纳米比亚、尼泊尔、卢旺达、塞内加尔、南非、坦桑尼亚、东帝汶、土耳其、多哥、乌干达、越南、津巴布韦和贊比亚。

仍需致力根除孕产妇和新生儿破伤风的国家包括：阿富汗、安哥拉、柬埔寨、中非共和国、乍得、刚果民主共和国、赤道几内亚、埃塞俄比亚、加蓬、几内亚、海地、印度、印尼、肯尼亚、老挝人民民主共和国、马达加斯加、马里、毛里塔尼亚、尼日尔、尼日利亚、巴基斯坦、巴布亚新几内亚、菲律宾、塞拉利昂、索马里、苏丹、南苏丹和也门。