合作伙伴報捷：59個重點國家逾半已成功擊退破傷風 | 最新消息 | 訊息中心 | 聯合國兒童基金香港委員會 UNICEF Hong Kong

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合作伙伴報捷：59個重點國家逾半已成功擊退破傷風

2013-05-15

紐約／香港，2013年5月15日──「根除孕產婦和新生兒破傷風倡議項目」的合作伙伴，今天在年度會議中宣布，全球59個重點國家中，逾半已成功擊退的母嬰殺手的致命元凶之一──破傷風。

每9分鐘便有1名新生兒死於破傷風，當中幾乎所有夭折的新生兒，都是出生於最弱勢地區及社區的貧困家庭。

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.

衞生環境惡劣、使用未經消毒的物件切割臍帶或接觸肚臍，都有機會令新生兒感染破傷風，並且威脅母親的性命。事實上，婦女只需接種至少3劑預防破傷風的疫苗，成本約港幣16元（2美元），便可為自己及將來誕下的嬰兒提供長達5年的保護。

自1999年起，全球52個國家已有逾1.18億名達到生育年齡的婦女接受了破傷風防疫注射。她們當中很多都參加了綜合計劃，在接受破傷風防疫注射的同時，亦獲得麻疹防疫注射、維他命A補充劑、驅蟲劑以及臍帶護理資訊等保護兒童健康的服務。

「根除孕產婦和新生兒破傷風倡議項目」，是一項展示出伙伴如何合力取得成果的典範。2000年，即項目開始後一年，當時估計每年有超過20萬名新生兒死於破傷風；到2010年，因破傷風而夭折的嬰兒數目，已下降至每年約58,000宗。

縱使項目有所進展，現時仍有逾28個重點國家尚未達到根除破傷風的目標。要在2015年前達成全球目標──在所有重點國家根除孕產婦和新生兒破傷風，實在困難重重。

局勢不穩、文化障礙、與其他重點工作爭奪執行的優先次序、確保確診後推行持續的根治工作，以及資金不足，都是妨礙工作人員進入社區，推行根除孕產婦和新生兒破傷風工作的主要挑戰。

(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.

「根除產婦和新生兒破傷風倡議項目」為國際性的公私營合作項目，合作伙伴包括：各國政府、聯合國兒童基金會（UNICEF）、世界衞生組織、聯合國人口基金、全球疫苗與免疫聯盟、美國國際開發署旗下的「基礎預防接種計劃」（Immunization Basics）、疾病預防控制中心、UNICEF國家委員會、日本政府、救助兒童會、適宜衞生技術規劃、麥當勞叔叔之家慈善基金、比爾及梅琳達．蓋茨基金會、國際同濟會、寶潔（P&G）轄下嬰兒尿片品牌幫寶適（Pampers），以及醫療技術公司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.

已根除孕產婦和新生兒破傷風的國家包括：孟加拉、貝寧、布基納法索、布隆迪、喀麥隆、中國、科摩羅、剛果、科特迪瓦、埃及、厄立特里亞、加納、幾內亞比紹、伊拉克、利比亞、馬拉維、莫桑比克、緬甸、納米比亞、尼泊爾、盧旺達、塞內加爾、南非、坦桑尼亞、東帝汶、土耳其、多哥、烏干達、越南、津巴布韋和贊比亞。

仍需致力根除孕產婦和新生兒破傷風的國家包括：阿富汗、安哥拉、柬埔寨、中非共和國、乍得、剛果民主共和國、赤道幾內亞、埃塞俄比亞、加蓬、幾內亞、海地、印度、印尼、肯尼亞、老撾人民民主共和國、馬達加斯加、馬里、毛里塔尼亞、尼日爾、尼日利亞、巴基斯坦、巴布亞新幾內亞、菲律賓、塞拉利昂、索馬里、蘇丹、南蘇丹和也門。