Actress and mother-of-three, Natascha McElhone, has joined forces with the Pampers & UNICEF ‘Gift of Life’ campaign in its goal to help eliminate maternal and newborn tetanus by 2012.
Humbled by her experiences in Angola and the progress made by the campaign over the last few years thanks to the support of mums in the UK and around the world, Natascha has joined forces with partners Pampers and UNICEF to continue helping to raise funds for life-saving maternal and newborn tetanus vaccines.
Thanks to the ‘1 Pack = 1 Vaccine’ campaign, Pampers has provided a life-saving dose of the Tetanus vaccine for a mother and her baby every two seconds since the activity began back in 2006.
Pampers has already donated the funding for 200 million tetanus vaccines to UNICEF, giving the ‘Gift of Life’ to millions of mothers and babies and is committed to supporting UNICEF in its work to raise a further 100 million vaccines this year to help eliminate this deadly disease.
Natascha comments, “As a mother in the UK, I’ve never had to think about the devastating effect of tetanus. However I was shocked to learn that it is still killing thousands of mothers and their babies in less industrialised countries. Once newborn tetanus has been contracted there is no real cure and within days of exposure it can lead to a fast and painful death. I am proud to be supporting the Pampers-UNICEF campaign to help eliminate newborn and maternal tetanus and give these women and their babies a chance to live a happy, healthy life”
It is so easy for mums to help. During October, November and December 2009, for every Pampers product purchased with the ‘1 Pack = 1 Life-Saving Vaccine’ logo, Pampers will provide UNICEF with the funding for one life-saving tetanus vaccine to help protect a mother and baby in need.
UNICEF UK’s Deputy Executive, Fundraising Fiona Hessleden commented, “It is unacceptable that thousands of babies are dying because of newborn tetanus, a disease which is easily preventable through an inexpensive vaccination. Our partnership with Pampers can help protect millions of newborns and their mothers around the world from this life threatening disease and help them realise their right to a happy, healthy childhood. It is fantastic that with Pampers vital support, we can also help countries move closer to the goal of eliminating this disease by 2012.”
Pampers UK and Ireland project leader, Isabelle Bjarnason, says, “Working with UNICEF for the fourth year, we’re now closer than ever to eliminating newborn and maternal tetanus. We remain as passionate and committed to the cause as when we began working with UNICEF in 2006. It is great to see such dedication from UK mums who help the campaign year-on-year.”
Every year, tetanus kills approximately 128,000 mothers and babies around the world. Although through routine vaccination it is no longer a threat in the west, tetanus continues to kill in developing countries throughout the world.
To make a donation towards the Pampers-UNICEF tetanus campaign that will help to reach more children around the world or for further information about the campaign please visit www.pampers.co.uk or www.unicef.org.uk/pampers
* UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) believe that the goal of eliminating maternal and newborn tetanus could be possible by 2012. UNICEF’s goal is to support countries in achieving maternal and newborn tetanus elimination.
