PHL eliminates maternal and neonatal tetanus

The Department of Health (DOH) declared the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) after achieving less than one case of neonatal tetanus per 1,000 live births in every city in the Philippines.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a statement on Wednesday that this was achieved by reaching isolated and conflict-affected communities, emphasizing the need for clean birth deliveries, and urging "reproductive age women to get vaccinated with tetanus-toxoid containing vaccine."

Partnerships with UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) also aided the Philippines in leaving behind its status as one of the last 16 countries in the world that has not eliminated MNT.

Tetanus immunization was integrated into the national health program in the 1990s, though 34,000 newborns were still killed by MNT in 2015.

Intensified promotion of clean deliveries and antenatal care and immunization in high-risk provinces began in 2009, and by 2015, only the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was left.

ARMM's status was remedied by conducting three rounds of Tetanus Diphtheria immunization from 2016 to 2017 that targeted almost 300,000 women aged 15 to 40.

By the end of the campaign, 80 percent of the women in selected high-risk ARMM provinces and cities were covered by all three rounds.

“WHO recognizes the Philippine government for its commitment to the global public health goal of MNTE. This achievement is a testament to the successful strides taken towards health equity, especially in protecting the hardest to reach and the most vulnerable from vaccine-preventable diseases like tetanus,” Dr. Gundo Aurel Weiler, WHO Representative to the Philippines said.

"WHO remains committed in supporting the Philippines, especially with the challenge of sustaining measures which helped the country achieve MNTE," he added. — Rie Takumi/BM, GMA News